After everything went wrong
by kenika2000
Summary: Drs Lim and Melendez had known each other for almost two decades by now, but they claimed themselves as friends only. A dramatic case changes everything. What will happen when Lim has to face a problem she can't handle alone? Team LimLendez here! Come, join their journey!
1. Chapter 1

" I'm so mad at Andrews.." said Lim after heading out of the conference room, where Andrews revealed he is keeping the title

" We should have expected that though. " sighed Melendez. " The nicer he pretends the more selfish he actually is. You know that. " He looked at Lim while trying to catch up with her speed walking down the hall to the dressing-room so she could calm down a little bit there.

Lim took a deep breath, shook her head and finally slowed down a little bit. " I need some cookies. " she sighed. " I'll pick up my pocket money, may I invite you for a coffee or anything in the buffet?" she looked up at him, then opened the door of the dressing-room leaving Melendez behind as he couldn't step inside the ladies' room.

" Sure. But only If you come and drink something with me after our shifts ended. " said Melendez standing in the door leaning to the wall. " I need to relax and I'm not working tomorrow." he added.

" Yeah, sure. Some bourbon would be nice." She smiled up on him while walking out and closing the door behind herself. " But now, cookie time." She chuckled and walked straight up the cafeteria. She didn't think anything is behind Melendez's offer other than that they are good friends and they both need a fun night -not in that way- after being screwed by Andrews and to calm down. It wouldn't be the first time they spend an evening together drinking after a rough day. They've known each other for more than a decade after all.

After picking up some cookies and coffee for Melendez, Lim had to go back to work as she had an incoming ambulance car with head trauma. She was covering the ER that day with two of their residents, Dr Browne and Dr Reznick.

Lim, being an adrenaline junkie, didn't even get exhausted - but sure she was devastated - after a two-and-a-half-hour surgery on the only survivor of a car accident involving a family. It was a little girl, six years old. She was travelling with her grandparents and her parents to visit some relatives when their car ran on a huge hole and one of the wheels broke off, causing them to run off the road and hit a tree. Lim had to fight for the girl's life, but the surgery seemed to be successful. Lena, as they called her, could start the peaceful recovery but they had to keep her in a coma until her body is strong enough to handle the trauma and the impacts of the accident. She had nobody left in the city, but a nurse made the call to her relatives in LA. Until they arrived, Lim wanted to make sure the little girl isn't alone. She was just sitting on Lena's bedside after the surgery for an hour or so when Melendez showed up behind her.

"Hey, Lim! Your shift is over, isn't it? " he asked.

"Her aunt has to arrive in any minute. I don't want to leave her alone like this. Her parents and grandparents died in an accident…" she told Melendez quietly. He sighed briefly and walked closer to her.

" Do you want me to wait with you? " he asked. Lim looked up at him and nodded. "Okay. " he whispered and found a chair for himself to sit down. He just looked at the little, broken girl on the bed. He couldn't help not to think about that how he would feel if this was his daughter. He would worry like never ever, but there is no one to worry for this girl here.

Some similar thoughts rushed through Lim's mind too, but fortunately Lena's aunt and uncle arrived right before she could think about it more. She talked to the family, offered her condolences so did Melendez and they decided to leave the room for the day. Lim was going to be on night shift the day after, so she knew she will visit Lena tomorrow.

" Do you still want to go out tonight? " asked Melendez politely. He saw on Lim's face that this was a hard case for her.

" Yeah. I'm getting drunk tonight…after all this shit today!" answered Lim. She walked up to the dressing room to change her scrubs to her normal clothes, meanwhile Melendez was waiting for her down at the entrance.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you okay? " asked Melendez after waiting for Lim almost a good ten minutes at the entrance. He decided to check on Lim, because he was concerned about her well-being after this case. He knew that she was tough, but he could also read her face and could tell her feelings from a single glance.

"No…" sighed Lim. She stepped out of the dressing room and but didn't look up at Melendez. "Let's go. And please, I don't want to talk about Lena's case anymore, or at least not today. Okay?" she asked but he knew he doesn't have to answer.

"Where do we want to go?" he asked while walking down the stairs. "Oakei's maybe? The barista likes me…" he shrugged his shoulder.

"Perfect." nodded Lim.

Since Lim's driving license was suspended, Melendez drove themselves to the bar that was near his house. They both got out of the car and headed inside, ordered some bourbon as Lim wished but they didn't say a word to each other. Lim looked pretty sad and it made Melendez think about ways to cheer her up.

"I know you said you don't want to talk about it, but I think you should. Why did this case hit you in the heart so much?" he asked politely.

"The truth is… I don't know." answered Lim. "Maybe because she is just an innocent little girl who suffered life threatening injures and lost almost all of her family members. And this is my first case like this. I experienced nearly everything during my career except treating a children who is basically an orphan now." she tried to explain. "I hate that I can't handle this!" she moaned.

"But this is totally fine and acceptable, Audrey! Don't try to hide that you have feelings!" said Melendez with a serious look on his face. Lim, instead of answering, just sipped down her drink and ordered another one immediately. "Okay. I'm sorry. It's tough. But you can handle this. And also, you can't worry about her too much, she is your patient. You have to let her be. Her relatives has to take care of her. I know it sounds soulless, but you know exactly why it's important."

""Yes I do." she nodded. "And I'm trying." she nodded again to show she understands his point of view and she accepts that he is right.

"She is going to recover soon, don't worry." he gave her a reassuring smile but she just sighed.

"I know." she whispered to herself. "Thank you." She finally made an eye contact with him after minutes and minutes of staring at her glass of bourbon. He only smiled in return.

As time gone by they started to talk about somewhat happier topics and drank bourbon after bourbon until they both were cheerful finally. Old memories came up such as their residency and their non-stop vying during that time, which is basically responsible for their current friendship.

"I always loved to tease you." laughed Melendez. "You are so cute when you are angry at me." he said and looked at her.

"Haha, very funny." she shook her head, but started laughing too. "I bet you wouldn't like to tease me if I finally took a revenge on you!" she joked.

"Revenge?" he laughed. "I would love to see what your revenge looks like!"

"Deal. You better prepare!" she nodded. "And don't try to call me cute again! "she added with a chuckle.

"Yes Ma'am." He smiled and just looked at her. It must have been the alcohol, but as he watched her face, he had to realize he was blind from his own pride for many years. "May I call you beautiful then?" he asked out of the blue. This question was more than shocking for Lim.

"Wait, what?" she widened her eyes. "You just called me beautiful. Is everything okay up here? " she chuckled and pointed on Melendez's head.

"Yeah, sorry." he shook his head. "I didn't mean to be rude by calling you pretty." he looked up at her again.

"Wow. Well, thank you I guess? " she smiled and ran her fingers through her locks, which caused Melendez focusing on her hair now. He always preferred dark haired girls over blondes, like Jessica, but somehow he didn't manage to have a girlfriend who wasn't blonde.

After this awkward moment, Lim broke the silence.

"I should go. It's late. I have to get home somehow. " she sighed.

"Okay." he nodded when he could finally bring himself back to reality. "Although…you know I live like 5 minutes from here. You can stay for the night. " he suggested. It wouldn't have been the first time Lim slept there on the couch, despite that the last time was in college.

"Are you positive? " she asked. She wasn't really sure if it was the right thing. She also felt insecure because she knew that probably she would be the first woman in that house since Jessica moved out. But since when did it bother her? She just wanted to sleep. "Alright. Thanks for the offer." she smiled and tried to pay but Melendez intervened. "And thanks for the drinks." she added with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

Since they were both drunk, they had to walk from the bar to Melendez's place, but they didn't mind it. They could breathe in some fresh air that helped to gain back their much needed soberness. Lim had to admit that she drank a little bit too much and she was pretty dizzy.

At some point, Lim had to grab Melendez's arm to be able to walk straight with his help.

"Are you okay?" asked Melendez with a worried tone.

"Yeah of course." nodded Lim. "The ground moves a little bit, but I'm a big girl, I can handle being drunk." she said and let go of his arm. Without thinking, Melendez grabbed her waist and pulled her a bit closer to himself gently, just to give her support –and he needed some also. Lim didn't say a word, just raised her eyebrow and looked up at him. She waited a little bit before putting her arm around him. She felt save in his arms and it was strange. She has rarely been this comfortable with other men besides her ex-husband.

It took a few minutes for them to arrive to Melendez's home, but neither of them let go of the other one until Neil had to open the front door to let themselves in.

"Well. Welcome here. But you know this place, so I don't have to guide you around." he smiled and opened the door for Lim. They walked in and got rid of their coats and shoes.

"This wall used to be green, didn't it?" she asked as she looked around.

"Yeah, it was olive green but it's brown since Jessica wanted to change the colors in the whole kitchen." he rolled his eyes. "I might paint it back though. I always hated this color." he added. She had to chuckle.

"I know you were totally in love with her, but I have to be honest. I think you didn't belong together. I'm sorry. Your and her plans for the future were so different and I knew it from the beginning." she said with complete honesty.

"Yeah. I should have noticed it earlier." he admitted. "Always wanted a family but she didn't and I knew this from the beginning too. I just thought we can figure out a compromise. It turns out we couldn't." he sighed with sadness that Lim noticed immediately.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your mirth. I don't want to talk about Jessica and your breakup with her." she shook her head and stepped closer to Melendez.

"It's okay. I'm totally over her by now, don't worry." he said and smiled at her. "It's just…It might me too late to start a family with my future wife who I don't even know yet." he chuckled but not because it was a funny topic for him, but because he found that ridiculous.

"Don't worry, I'm sure a man like you won't stay single for so long." smiled Lim. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" she leaned closer and hugged him. Melendez didn't hesitate to put his arms around her for a tight hug but he was incredibly gentle with her. He just wanted to show that he is grateful to have her as his friend.  
Their hug lasted for a few more moments before Lim looked up at and so did he. She glanced at his lips and Melendez immediately understood what this sign means. He leaned over and sighed a brief kiss on Lim's lips while he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her closer.  
It all happened so fast. Lim and Melendez quickly found themselves continuing their kissing in the bedroom and losing their clothes. They were both overwhelmed by something and they needed something to relieve their stress. They had each other and they didn't see why they can't use the benefits of this companionship.

Neither Lim or Melendez had to work the next day so they could sleep longer than normally. Because of the unfamiliar environment, Lim was the first to wake up. Although she planned to sleep on the couch, well, things didn't quite work out as planned. Everything turned out to something so much better. She slowly opened her eyes and glanced at Melendez. She was perfectly aware of what happened last night and she had to smile when she thought back to the time they spent together.

Lim was just napping next to Melendez when he finally woke up. She looked up at him.

"Good morning." she smiled. Melendez rolled to his other side and glanced at Lim. He seemed a bit confused so Lim started to worry a little bit. "Is it a problem that I stayed?" she asked.

"What? No! No…what time is it?" he asked."

Almost ten a.m." she answered. "I should go. I just wanted to wait until you wake up."

"Ten?" he widened his eyes. "I swear, this is the first time I had a proper sleep in years!" he started to chuckle.

"Well…" she laughed. "This was a well-deserved sleep after your performance last night..." she smiled.

"Yeah. About that. It was a single night stand, wasn't it?" he wanted to make sure it didn't mean anything else to Lim.

"Of course." she nodded. "We were drunk. We needed some stress relief. But it won't happen again." She said and smiled at him. "I really have to go now. May I use the bathroom?" she asked. "And could you make some coffee for me please?"

"Absolutely. It's been a while since you tasted my latte. You drink it the same way as in collage?"

"Two spoons of sugar and a hint of milk." they said at the same time in harmony then they both started to laugh.

"Yes. Thank you, I'll be right back." she chuckled and headed to the bathroom.


	4. Chapter 4

Melendez had a day off but Lim covered the ER that night. It was the night before Christmas so she expected everything crazy to happen. In spite of her predictions, there seemed to be nothing too insane, but she still had to work her butt off in that shift. She was so busy she even forgot about something.

Around dawn she had a free hour after a few surgeries, but she couldn't drop off to sleep. Her mind was awake and her brain just started to process the affair they had with Melendez. She was hyped still after the great night they had with Melendez. She knew she won't forget it soon. She had to admit to herself that she has been longing for this to happen for a really long time. She was always a little bit jealous of Melendez's girlfriends for having such a great boyfriend. She knew that he was an amazing person but she had no idea that he is this great in bed. But still, in spite of everything -she didn't know the reason- she started to somehow regret the whole night.

Time went by and she was paged to an emergency surgery. While she was scrubbing in in a rush, the nurses informed her about the patient. Her name was Lena McConnor.

She widened her eyes.  
"Lena?" she asked. "What happened?" she felt so bad because she totally forgot about her in consequence of this misery with Melendez.

"Her heart failed during the day but we brought her back. We scanned her and there was a hole…we thought she can wait until a donor organ arrives but…now her heart gave up again." said the nurse while showing the scan.

"Dear Lord…" moaned Lim to herself. "Is everything prepared for surgery?" she asked and headed to the OR.

They put Lena on bypass to save time until they could figure out a way to fix her heart. As it turned out, they had to face much bigger of a problem than they first thought. Lim knew exactly that Lena had to get off bypass after a certain amount of time because otherwise her heart wouldn't be able to function again.

"What time is it?" she asked. "Is it past seven?"

"Yes. Ten past seven, to be exact." a nurse answered. Lim has been waiting for this moment for long minutes. Melendez has to be here as his shift starts at seven today and he was the best Cardiothoracic Surgeon in the hospital and Lim trusted him more than anyone. She had to admit she can't cope with this surgery alone.

"Page Dr Melendez. I need to consult with him. Stat!" she said and a nurse rushed out of the OR.

Melendez just stepped out of the dressing room when the nurse found him. He couldn't even drink his second coffee yet.

"Hurry! Dr Lim needs you in the OR. Lena McConnor. She has been on bypass for an hour and half now after multiple heart failure. She probably had an unnoticed congenital heart disease. She had a car accident a day ago. Her ribs fractured from the crash and the pressure caused her heart to have a hard time pumping and several holes evolved." she informed him.

This situation surprised him. He knew about Lim's patient but he thought she was recovering by now. br /He nodded and followed the nurse to the OR, scrubbed in and headed inside. The moment he saw Lim –it was the first time since last morning when she left his house after having sex – he had to try to focus on the case, but he couldn't help thinking about their night for a short moment.

"Finally." sighed Lim. "Please, have a look at her heart. I tried to sew up the smaller holes but I still have a massive issue. It seems like I don't have any free surface to anchor this piece to without ripping off again from the pressure. And sadly our genius Dr Murphy is on his holiday break for 3 days with Dr Glassman."  
She was so concentrated on this case that brought Melendez back from his daydreams immediately. He had a look on the little heart and started to think about possible solutions.

"Dr Lim, you need some rest." he said. "I think I can handle this from here with the residents." he looked up at Dr Reznick and Dr Park. They were both silent from thinking and because sadly they didn't have any idea. Lim gave him a mad face and didn't move. "Please." he looked at her. He was worried for her. He knew exactly what this girl meant to Lim and she couldn't be objective in this case anymore.

"You are not my boss. I'm staying. I started this surgery, I'll close it up too. " she said.

"I'm not your boss, but I don't want to work with someone who can't think clearly because of exhaustion and fury." said Melendez to Lim. He didn't mean to send her out from the OR like this, he really was just worried for her but it turned out to seem pretty rude from him. "Leave!" he told her once again with lauder voice. She couldn't do anything else but what he said although she was really mad at him for ordering her to leave. She left the OR with anger and shame because with this move Melendez really undermined her dignity and this was a huge abasement from him, which Lim wouldn't have expected.

Lim's shift was over, but she had to wait for Melendez to discuss this with him. She tried to calm down till Melendez was done with the surgery that happened to be two more hours from Lim leaving the OR. Fortunately, he could successfully manage to fix the girl's heart issue and it started to pump again after taking her off bypass. Lim was happy when she was told that Lena survived, but still, she couldn't resist to talk about the incident in the OR with Melendez. She decided to wait for him in his office, so they can talk in private.


	5. Chapter 5

Lim was sitting on Melendez's couch in his office when he arrived there. He didn't even notice her immediately because he was reading some scan reviews, but then he finally looked up and realized he wasn't alone.

"Audrey…" he said her name quietly. "I have to apologize for what I said in the OR." he started but Lim didn't let him finish.

"You were rude, disrespectful and you abased me in front of my residents and the nurses. You sent me out of the OR in the middle of MY surgery. I was the leading attending surgeon! How dare you do this to me? " she stood up and walked closer to him while pointing at him. "You are not my fucking boss, Neil!" she shouted.

"Audrey, calm down and let me continue. I knew that you were overwhelmed. I just wanted to let you rest but you started to argue with me!" he answered. He couldn't help raising his voice. He didn't mean to shout at her, but the charges against him were too much.

"Yeah. Let me rest. How kind! You wouldn't let anyone leave the OR to 'rest'. You don't have to take care of me because we slept together!" she argued back shouting but she immediately lowered her voice for the last three words. She wouldn't risk that anyone could hear her say those words above. "Keep your niceness to yourself!" she added. This was enough for her. Before Melendez could reply, Lim left his office and shut the door behind herself.

Melendez was incredibly furious because he only wanted to be nice to Lim with letting her rest after long hours of surgeries in her shift, but this whole situation seemed to turn him into a rude, arrogant enemy of her.

Several weeks went by. Lim didn't want to work with Melendez after all that abasement by him, so she tried to avoid him even when they had their shifts at the same time. She could manage to back up from every surgery she would have had to work on with Melendez. Fortunately, Andrews tried to help her, he even had a conversation with Melendez about this case, but -of course-, only without the knowledge of their one-night stand.  
Melendez, on the other hand, tried to fix their conflict multiple times, but Lim simply told him to fuck off every time, because she wasn't interested in his apologies. This whole misery made Melendez upset, since he believed Lim was acting childish with no reason for weeks. By the end, he even let it go. If she still wanted to be on bad terms with him, he had to let her do that.

One month after the affair between Lim and Melendez, Lim was covering the ER with Dr Murphy and Dr Reznick, meanwhile Melendez was working upstairs with Dr Brown on preparing a patient for bone marrow transplant. An ambulance car arrived with a coughing woman with some interesting rashes on her skin. Few minutes later an other patient walked in. He came with his own car, but as it turned out, from the same location. San Jose International Airport. He thought he had a simple allergic reaction to some the peanuts from the plane, so he wasn't in a rush. He sat down and patiently waited for the doctors to treat the emergency case before him.

Lim consulted with the paramedic about the woman's condition shortly after putting her on oxygen for her breathing difficulty and IV for dehydration. Dr Reznick, while taking a blood test sample, noticed that her rashes almost duplicated since she arrived to the hospital. She paged Lim to have a look on her skin.

"Excuse me, Doctors?" said somebody from behind them. "Can you have a look on my allergy? I started coughing since I'm here, and this rash is getting worse." he showed them his arm. Lim and Reznick looked at each other. They knew that it wasn't allergy. Most likely the two patients had the same virus.

"It's not allergy. It's a virus. You both have it." Informed them Murphy, although Lim and Reznick wanted to keep this information for themselves until they could figure out what virus they had to face.

"Virus? What? I'm going to look like her in only matter of time?" he asked and started to panic. "She looks like crap! Nearly dead." he pointed at the anemic, unconscious woman.

"Please, sir, calm down!" said Lim.

"Yes, you will. In…twenty minutes or so." Murphy nodded.

"Jesus Christ!" he sighed.

"Shaun, shut up!" ordered Lim. "Sir, did you travel with the same plane as her? With Asian Airlines?" she asked the male patient.

"Yes. But I didn't touch her or anything. She was several rows ahead of me on the plane." he shook his head. This could only mean one thing for Lim.

"We have to take the ER under quarantine!" she informed the fellow doctors and nurses. A little panic ran through each one of them, but they were trained for such events. They had to handle this situation calmly, the panic-struck patients were enough to worry about.

"That's not good. That's really bad." said Murphy with the same monotone voice he used to talk on.

Melendez's patient's donor should have arrived by then and he couldn't even reach him via phone, but they couldn't do anything. Everything was prepared for surgery and he knew that the donor will show up soon. He was with the patient when Andrews paged him –and every other staff member too- so he rushed to the conference room.

"We had to take the ER under quarantine." Andrews informed the staff right away. "An unknown virus raised its head. Two patients are infected but and we want this to stay this way. Drs Lim, Reznick and Murphy are stuck in there with many nurses, security guards and dozens of patients. Dr Lim and her team are trying to stop the virus before it spreads to anyone else."

"It already did…" said Melendez. Andrews had a monitor in the room of the security cams of the ER. Melendez could clearly see that the paramedic had a rash on his arm. "He is infected."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: The following content might be graphic! This chapter contains violence!**

Andrews looked over to the monitor and noticed what Melendez was talking about.

"Then this virus is stronger than we thought." he sighed. "Anyways. The ER is under quarantine, which means nobody can go in or come out. Understood? Security is guarding every single entrance to the ER, but the doors are locked anyways with special codes. We have to wait until the CDC arrives. That's all I can say now." he nodded to show that this is the end of his speech.

Melendez stayed in the room while everyone else was leaving. He couldn't take his eyes off the monitor that showed Lim and her team dealing with the patients. They already announced the quarantine, they even isolated the waiting room from the ER itself to lower the risk of the virus's spreading.

"You have your own patient, yes?" asked Andrews from behind Melendez's back. "You should go and deal with it. There is nothing we can do here." he said.

"I'm waiting for the bone marrow donor to arrive. I can't do anything with my patient either. I can watch him die if the donor doesn't arrive in half an hour." Melendez answered arrogantly. But he was right.

"Then go and try to reach out to him!" ordered Andrews.

"That's what Dr Browne is for, damn it! Can you just let me stay please?" Melendez looked over at Andrews who wanted to open his mouth again, but decided to stay quiet after seeing Melendez's mad and worried face. He simply nodded and left the conference room, so Melendez remained alone.

_"Oh Audrey. Why do you love the ER so much? You wouldn't be there if you preferred cardiology."_ he thought to himself and sighed briefly. He just looked at the monitor for minutes watching Lim, but her only. Obviously he was generally worried about this situation, but Lim was closer to him than anyone else in there. They were great friends –or had been before their quarrel –after all. Maybe even a little bit more than just friends.

A buzzing brought him back to reality. His patient fat lined and the donor hadn't arrived yet. Dr Browne was in his room already when Melendez arrived.

"No sign of the donor yet?" he asked.

"Nothing. I couldn't reach him. But he gave up, sir. There is nothing we can do here. He signed the DNR. He wanted us to let him die." Claire shook her head with sadness on her face. She couldn't handle the loss of patients yet.

"I know." Melendez sighed. His thoughts were still in the conference room, he couldn't stop thinking about the quarantine. He was sorry for this patient, but he just signed the death certificate and left the room. Claire was surprised by his acts, but then she realized it was probably because of the ER events.

This time Melendez didn't go back to the conference room, he rushed down the stairs and headed to the ER. He was aware of the fact they won't let him in, but he had to check in through the glass doors at least.

"Lim!" he shouted to her when he noticed her inside.

"What are you doing here?" she looked at her, raised her eyebrows in surprise, but she walked closer.

"What's up in there? How many are infected?" he asked.

"Three were, but our first patient just passed away recently, so it's only two now." She sighed.

"Great. Mine too…but how are you? You are clear, right?" he looked recognizably worried.

"Yes. We are all clear yet. But the virus seems to spread midair. We isolated those who are infected. Is the CDC coming?" she asked.

"Yes, they are on their way here. Stay safe, okay? Use masks and everything. Please…" he said. He didn't want to make the same mistake as a month ago with caring about her, but he was scared.

"I'm an adult, Neil, I can think with common sense." She rolled her eyes. "I have to go. You too, go back to do your job." She told him. Melendez knew that she was still mad at him for some reason, so he did what she ordered.

Things were getting complicated in the ER in the next hour. Lim and her team lost the second patient in half an hour and someone else from the waiting room seemed to have the same symptoms, which meant that the waiting room wasn't a safe place either. After all this, Lim couldn't believe in fighting back the virus, since neither of the treatments they used seemed to work. Everyone wore HAZMAT suits in the isolated area, but they weren't sure whether they were infected already or not. They could only hope that the answer is No.

The infected paramedic passed away in the second hour of the quarantine. After three deaths, they at least knew that the virus was most likely some mutant version of the SARS virus, but the known treatments didn't work on any of the patients. Their lungs collapsed and they died from breathing difficulties in massive thoracic pain while the rash spread almost all over their bodies.

Melendez followed the events of the ER in the conference room through the monitor. Fortunately, there weren't any staff members infected yet, but he couldn't rest for a moment to relax, neither could Lim. He saw that she wasn't calm either, in fact, she seemed to be more and more stressed from the idea of still being stuck in there for the fifth hour now. Still, she wasn't the most overwhelmed. Dr Murphy could handle the things well, but as she looked around, Dr Reznick started to feel the symptoms of the virus. She started to have difficulties in breathing and she felt so dizzy, she had to sit down.

"Morgan?" Lim rushed there. _"Please don't be infected!"_

"I…can't breathe." said Morgan. She felt like someone was trying to choke her.

"She doesn't have any rash. Also she is not coughing. She is not infected, there is nothing to be worried about. She is just having a panic attack. She is going to pass out from hyperventilation." Lim could hear this from Murphy on his monotone voice so she looked at him. In this very second, Morgan tumbled down from the chair. Murphy didn't even move to help, he watched Lim and a nurse picking up Morgan from the ground and laying her on a table. "She is going to be all right." he nodded and left the room.

"Thanks, Shaun…" Lim sighed. A nurse stayed there with Morgan but Lim headed to the waiting room. She took off her HAZMAT so she could talk to the patients there without scaring them too much with that suit.

"Please, listen up everybody!" she said. "It's been almost six hours by now since we are locked in here. The CDC should be here in every minute basically, so remain patient please! Everything seems to be under control!" she informed the people.

"Is a rash a symptom of the virus?" Lim heard this question from a man in the crowd. Lim raised her eyebrow and looked at him.

"Yes, it seems to be. Why?" she asked back.

The man rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. He had a patch of that red rash on his arm. A baldhead in his surroundings jumped up.

"Are you crazy? You idiot!" he shouted. "How long did you want to wait to reveal this? Until you infect everyone here?!" he continued.

"Please, calm down!" Lim tried to interrupt, but the infected man stood up too.

"Shut up! Don't you dare talking to me like this!" he yelled back at the baldhead.

"Yeah, I should bear your face while I know you probably infected me too and we are both going to die in an hour!"

"Don't blame me!" the infected man stepped closer and pushed on the baldhead, but he didn't except how strong that other guy was. He immediately found himself on the ground, but this wasn't enough for the baldhead.

"I'll have to sedate you both if you don't stop right now!" yelled Lim, but none of them seem to even hear her words, so she rushed to grab two hypos with sedative in them. She arrived back to find them in the middle of a fight, both of them punching each other in the face.

_"I warned you both…"_ She stepped behind the baldhead and stabbed him with the hypo. In consequence of an instant reaction, he turned back and pushed Lim away before she could even inject the sedative. She landed on the floor and moaned in pain.


	7. Chapter 7

"Audrey!" Melendez jumped up in the conference room, when he saw Lim falling to the ground. "You bastard..." he whispered with anger and headed down to the ER right away.

"Dr. Lim, are you okay?" a nurse asked. She kneeled down to her boss and helped her sit up.

"Yes...I mean...no." Lim sighed. "Everything hurts a little bit, but I'm all right." she said. She was a tough woman, she would never show that she is vulnerable. "Please, take care of this man. He has to go to the isolated area. And the other one...close him in the toilet or something until the police arrives." she ordered. The nurse stood up and led the infected man to the isolation with Murphy, meanwhile a security guard grabbed the baldhead's arms, pulled them back and as Lim said, she pushed him into a cabin in the restroom and closed the door.

Patients in the waiting room reached to Lim and gave her a hand to help her stand up. She could still feel a little pain, especially in her butt and back, but sure she could handle it. She thanked everyone and walked back to the isolated area. She still had to deal with the new patient although she couldn't rush this time.

Melendez arrived to the ER and knocked on the glass door.  
"Lim! Hey, Lim!" he shouted to get her attention. She finally noticed him on her way from the waiting room.

"What are you doing here again? I told you to deal with your own business!'" she told him simply. She wasn't mad at him, she was just more and more stressed from this situation. She felt like everything was slipping through her fingers.

"Please! Are you okay? I saw you being pushed down to the floor. Where is that guy by the way? I would like to talk to him." he grunted.

"He is locked in a toilet cabin. And I'm fine, but we have another patient with the infection. Seems like we can't stop it. And it drives me crazy." she rolled her eyes. As she talked, she slowly stepped closer and closer.

"In the toilet?" he raised his eyebrow and smiled a little. This was the Audrey he knew, firm as a rock. But then, his face turned worried again. "Why aren't you wearing a mask by the way?" he asked seriously. And he was completely right.

"I'll go back to the isolated area and put on a HAZMAT anyways." she shrugged her shoulder. "I believe this doesn't spread in the air. Because almost everyone would be dead by now. But this is just my speculation." she explained.

"You better be right." he nodded. She had rubber gloves on, so that was a plus. He was sure she knew what she is doing. "Okay, I won't bother you anymore. Just wanted to make sure that you're fine. Please, stay this way!" he looked deeply in her eyes. He tried to show how important she is to him and that he doesn't want to lose her.

" 'Kay.." she whispered and looked up at him. "I should go back to work." she agreed but didn't want to leave him. Somehow his presence calmed her a little bit. "Bye for now." she smiled briefly and walked away.

Andrews got a call from the CDC. They were about 2 hours away because they were stuck on the highway in consequence of a storm. He couldn't be madder than he was after this call, but he had to understand. He reached out to the staff in the ER and told them the news. Lim wasn't happy, obviously.

"Damn it." she moaned. "How many patients do we have to lose here? We are about to turn into a cemetery." she sighed. They were all hungry, tired, scared and overwhelmed. This all was going on for the seventh hour now and they all wanted this to be over.  
Lim started to feel her stomach hurting a while ago, after her fight scene, to be exact. Despite the timing, she was sure it was from hunger so she kept forgetting about it. Until now. She stooped forward from a cramp that came out of the blue. Fortunately, nobody noticed it first. The pain disappeared quickly, so she sighed and took an upright position again, but another, much bigger cramp hit her lower abdomen. A tear rolled down her chin immediately although nobody has ever seen her crying before, which means this occasion was sure rare. Murphy was the closer to her - although he didn't come closer-, notified Morgan, who got herself back together by then.

"Dr Lim is crying." Murphy said. "Her abdomen hurts." he nodded after the diagnoses.

"I'm not crying." exclaimed Lim against that statement. "But yes...otherwise, you're correct. But it's probably from stress and that I haven't eaten anything since 7 a.m." she explained before a third cramp hit her and she couldn't hold back a -quiet- scream caused by the pain she had. Probably the whole ER could hear it. Many nurses rushed to in companion with Morgan but Shaun just covered his ears.  
"I don't know what's happening." she looked up at them with tears in her eyes. She WAS crying. She never experienced anything like this.

"What is going on? Where do you feel the pain, Dr Lim?" Morgan asked.

"It's like... a menstrual pain in my lower abdomen but it's five times worse." she tried to describe what she felt. The crumps didn't go away, in fact, they got worse and more frequent.

"You should lay down, Dr Lim." Morgan nodded and helped her to the nearest examiner, but Lim stopped and looked down. She felt wet between her legs but it felt more thick than urine. It was blood. "What's that?" Morgan looked at Lim then noticed where her eyes were looking at. "Oh my...you're bleeding..."

"Were you pregnant, Dr Lim? Because most likely you are having a miscarriage." Shaun stated.


	8. Chapter 8

Melendez stared at the monitor with his eyes wide opened. He couldn't hear anything from what was going on in the ER, but he could see Lim almost collapsing and screaming from pain. He could see the blood. He grabbed his phone and called Morgan in hope that she is going to answer soon.

"Dr Melendez, it's not the right timing." Morgan picked up the phone and put him on speaker. "There is a little bit of situation going on." she sighed while she helped Lim laying on the examiner table.

"I can see that. But what is this all about? I won't ask whether Lim is okay or not because I can see she isn't. Can you inform me?" he asked.

"She is having a mis..." started Shaun, but Lim interrupted.

"No, I'm not fine, Neil, but this isn't the time to explain everything." Lim said and nodded to Morgan to hang up the call. She couldn't risk that his reaction to the news would reveal what happened between them. She had to tell him herself about this as soon as they get out of quarantine finally, but not when anyone can hear it. Also, she couldn't yet believe that she was really having a miscarriage. They had protection. She couldn't believe that she was pregnant with Neil's baby.

Melendez just looked at his phone shocked. _"Did Murphy just say miscarriage? She was pregnant? Is that my fault? Or did she have any other hookups recently?" _all these thoughts ran through his mind. He had to sit down to process the information.

Lim sent Murphy out of the examiner so only Morgan had to look at the things. She hated OB-GYN examinations anyways and now this situation was super awkward for her, but she knew she had to go through this to make sure about the diagnoses. Although Morgan wasn't professional in this field, she could definitely tell that this is really a miscarriage.

"I'm sorry, Dr Lim, but Shaun was right." Morgan sighed. "Did you know about the pregnancy?" she asked politely.

"No." Lim shook her head. Her cramps started to ease so she felt a lot better already. Her lower abdomen still hurt a little bit, but it wasn't unbearable.

"I'll clean you up and make sure the bleeding stops. I found the embryo and the placenta, so the miscarriage is over." Morgan informed Lim who just closed her eyes and nodded. She remained calm while Morgan was doing her job although she was thinking about how her life fell apart in a day. She didn't have time to think the whole day until now. She had to try to collect the pieces of her life and get it back together -or at least she had to try to show that she can do it.  
"Okay. We are done." Morgan said. "I'll try to get you some fresh clothes. I'll be righ back." she covered Lim, stood up, and rushed out. Lim remained alone. This was the time to drop some more tears, but only a few. She didn't want to cry again, for the second time only that day.

Morgan managed to get fresh scrubs for Lim, she helped her dress up, but when Lim wanted to get back to work, she had to intervene.  
"I know that you are a tough woman, Dr Lim, but I can't let you go now. You just had a miscarriage. Please, have some rest. We can deal with the ER now. The CDC has to be here soon and they are going to let us free finally. But you have to lay down now." she explained. Lim was so exhausted from the day and what her body had gone through, she had to agree with Morgan. She needed rest.

"Thank you, for everything." Lim whispered. Morgan smiled at her and left Lim alone.

It took fifteen more minutes for the CDC to finally arrive. It was the eighth hour under Quarantine, so this was a huge relief for anyone in the ER. They took blood samples for tests to make sure everyone is clear who looks healthy and cured the ones with early symptoms. They could finally state that the virus is under control but it claimed 5 lives beforehand.

Patients and nurses with negative blood test results could head home after this long, impossible day. Morgan and Shaun went home too, only Lim had to stay. She was transferred to an other room and she had to stay overnight because of the miscarriage everyone was talking about already. She didn't want to be there, so vulnerable. She wanted to be alone -at home, but that wasn't happening that night.

She couldn't sleep although she was incredibly exhausted. She was just staring at the ceiling when somebody knocked on the door. She didn't answer but the someone opened the door anyway and also closed it behind himself.

"Audrey..." Melendez whispered.

"I had a miscarriage, Neil. I was pregnant with your child." she said but didn't look at her. These words hit him again, despite that he already knew this.

"I'm so sorry, Audrey. It's my fault that you had to go through all this." he stepped closer.

"No, it's not!" she looked at him. "The virus wasn't your fault. I had the miscarriage because of the stress and probably my fall. That incident wasn't your fault either." she sighed. Her sentences confused him.

"Wait. What? I meant that you shouldn't had been pregnant on the first place. That's my fault." he explained, then started to think it over.

"It happens when a man and a woman have sex..." she rolled her eyes. "You know, condoms don't provide 100% protection either. But it's not a big deal anyways. I'm not pregnant anymore, so we don't have to talk about this anymore." She wanted to show that she doesn't care about the loss of a baby she wasn't even aware of, but as a woman, it's a really hard time for her that she didn't want to admit.

"All right, sorry." he nodded. "Otherwise...how are you?" he asked.

"I lost six patients today, spent eight hours in quarantine and hadn't showered in 28 hours. You can imagine now, can't you?" she answered.

"Do you want me to leave you alone or give you company? I realised today was the first time since the OR incident that you had talked to me." he smiled.

"I'm exhausted." she sighed. "But can you come in in the morning?" she looked at him. Melendez still hadn't stop smiling.

"Of course. Sleep well, Audrey. I'll be here around eight a.m. Is that okay?" he backed up in the direction of the door.

"Yes. Thank you, Neil." she whispered and glanced at him. Melendez turned around and left the room. Lim remain alone again, but this time she could finally fall asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**First of all, I want to thank you all for your support. Your reviews mean a lot. Thank you!**

Melendez spent the night at home, he was indeed worried still, although Lim was in good hands. He couldn't help thinking about the miscarriage. His brain couldn't cope with the idea that they would have had a baby with Lim if this day wasn't like this. Without the quarantine and the stress she had gone through. He couldn't sleep nearly all night, he needed to grab a beer - and one more later on that night- to process the information. He would have been a father. And Lim would have been the mother of his child. _"It's impossible."_

He could take some rest at around dawn before he had to wake up. He didn't have to work that day although he was on call in, but he promised Lim he will visit her next morning, so that's what he did. At eight a.m. he knocked at Lim's door in the hospital. He could hear her approval to come in.

"Good morning." he smiled at her. "How are you feeling? Could you sleep?" he asked.

"Morning." Lim looked up at him. "Physically...I'm okay. It was just a miscarriage. I can handle it..." she sighed.

"I know your body can." Melendez nodded. Lim knew what he tried to point on.

"I didn't even know that I'm pregnant, Neil. I wasn't really expecting, so I don't really know what to think about this. I'm confused." she tried to explain, but she couldn't describe her feelings. Melendez stepped closer, picked up a chair, placed it at her bedside and he sat down on it. "But we definitely have to talk about this." Lim added.

"I agree." Melendez nodded. "I couldn't sleep last night. I'm confused too. Do you realize that we almost had a child together?" he asked seriously.

"Yes, I do. It's crazy. I know you want to have children, but me...not really. Or I should say I can't imagine myself as a mum. But anyways, this all, between us, it was just a fun night and that's all, right?" she looked in his eyes.

"Yeah, sure. But does it mean to you that we are going to forget about this and move on?" Melendez raised his eyebrow.

"Doesn't it to you?" Lim shrugged her shoulder. She really didn't want to think about this more deeply. "We have to move on and never talk about this again. You can't tell anyone that it was your child! I'm already the topic of many rumors, but until you are not included, I don't care. As soon as they start speculating, we are in trouble. Nobody can find it out, okay?" she tried to put the words into Melendez's mouth.

"Okay. I'm not an idiot, you don't have to make me look like one." Melendez shook his head and stood up. Honestly, her words hurt a little bit, he had to realize that the night they spent together probably ruined their friendship. Lim was cold with him ever since. He had to stop being this nice and caring about her. "Did you want me to come here today just to tell me this? Because you could have just send me a text message instead." he sighed. "Is there anything else you want to make clear? Otherwise I'm out." he crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at her while waiting for the answer.

"No, this was it." Lim answered quietly. Melendez walked out of the room without saying 'goodbye' and Lim couldn't really understand why. _"Did I say something bad?"_ she thought.

"Unbelievable..." Melendez mumbled when he walked up to his office. Still, he didn't have to be there, he just wanted to pick up something. Bad luck hit him. He met Andrews on his way.

"Good morning, Dr Melendez. I thought you are only on call." Andrews greeted him.

"Good morning, Sir. Yes, I am. I just had to deal with something in here." Melendez sighed.

"Did you visit Dr Lim?" Andrews asked. He knew that her room was in that direction where Melendez came from.

"Yes. She is fine..." Melendez nodded. "…and arrogant..." he added quietly.

"You still don't get along well since the incident in the OR?" Andrews raised his eyebrow.

"No, as it turned out. I thought we do, but she made it clear that we don't." Melendez shook his head. "But I better be going. I have many things to deal with at home too."

"You two sound really fix your problems because you can't work together like this." Andrews told Melendez but he left already.

"I know..." Melendez waved back from the corner of the hallway before disappearing. He couldn't risk to tell anything more about this situation to Andrews by accident.  
When he arrived to his office, a pile of documents welcomed him on the table. "Oh shoot..." he sighed. He totally forgot about the paperwork he should have done the day before. He was so focused on Lim's condition he neglected his job. But now he was in anyways, so he sat down and started to work on his tasks.

As time went by, Lim started to feel guilty for her words to Melendez. She was harsh, she had to admit. She picked up her phone and sent a message to Melendez asking whether he is free to talk or not. When he received the message, he thought about to ignore it or not but at the end he didn't reply anything to it. Lim still waited a little before deciding to give it a try and look for him in his office. She put on some sweatpants and sweatshirt -she hated the gown she was given to wear in the hospital, she didn't even want to leave the bed in it- and she was ready to go. She looked like there was nothing wrong with her. She put her hair up in a ponytail on her way out of the room, then nothing could stop her from walking up to Melendez's office.

Melendez buried himself in the papers, he wanted it to be done as soon as possible because he wanted to come home before anyone calls he in for an emergency surgery. He wanted to be at home. He wanted to sleep as he couldn't really at night. A knock on his door disturbed him. The door opened.

"I'm not in charge today, try again tomorrow…" he said simply without looking up from the paperwork.

"Neil..." he could hear Lim's voice. "Can I come in?" she asked politely.

"What do you want here?" Melendez glanced at her, sighed then nodded to approve her request. Lim walked in and closed the door behind her.

"I came to apologize. I was rude. I'm sorry." Lim tilted her head and tried to look in Melendez's eyes but he avoided it. "Look. Honestly...I want to keep our friendship as good as it was before everything went wrong between us. But despite this, I have to admit something..." she sighed.

"You were the one who ignored me for a month!" Melendez stated.

"Yes, you are right! It was my fault. But I was scared from my feelings, okay?" she said out of the blue.

"What?" he looked confused. _"Feelings?"_

"Neil...it's complicated." she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then look up at him again. "I pushed you away because I didn't want to fell in love with you." she admitted finally.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10, here we go!**

Melendez looked at Lim with a little bit of a shock. He wouldn't tell that Lim had feelings for him, she is the master of hiding her emotions. He had to think it through before answering. He knew that Lim wasn't neutral to him, but he never worded his feelings. He wasn't aware of having any, but for outsiders, it would have been obvious, although probably nobody ever thought about them this way. But now, with Lim's confession, some emotions broke to the surface.

"Audrey..." Melendez sighed and decided to stand up and step closer to her. "Yesterday, the quarantine made me realize that you are important to me. Obviously, we know each other since collage, but it was different." he stopped talking for a few seconds. "It's been different since we slept together, you know?" he continued.

"I know, that's my point too. I look at you a different way." Lim interrupted, but Melendez started talking again, before Lim could add anything else.

"Let me finish. It's been different and I don't quite know what to do with this situation, but I think we should remain friends. Because we work at the same hospital and if there is something more between us, it can lead to problems. For example, today Andrews came to me to fix our problems finally and he is right, because that you didn't want to work with me last month wasn't okay, Audrey!" Melendez explained. "Also, who knows when will Andrews decide to give up his title finally as chief of surgery? We both are in competition, you know that."

Lim couldn't say a word. She immediately regretted opening up about her feelings to Melendez. She always kept everything to herself and now she saw that this would have been the right thing this time too. " Okay, you're right." she nodded. She felt dumb. "I better be going back to my room. Final visit is about to happen and I can go home finally!" she changed the topic and tried to smile, but it didn't look honest -although she was indeed happy for leaving the hospital after almost two days. "And Andrews sent me on a week off, despite the fact that I'm already feeling fine. You know me. Keeping me away from the OR is the worst thing he could do to me, but I can't do anything about this. I guess I'll be at home for a week from now." she sighed.

Melendez noticed that probably his speech wasn't what Lim was expecting and it confused him so much. A few hours ago Lim herself was the one who exclaimed against them being in a relationship of any kind.  
"Audrey, don't change the topic, please. I can see you are not all right. I'm sorry to deject you, but this is the only way we can do this right. This can't happen between us, let's be fair." Melendez stepped one more step closer and reached for Lim's hands. Despite his words, he wasn't sure if he can actually stay true to himself.

"This is like a fucking Romeo and Juliet nightmare." Lim rolled her eyes, Melendez had to laugh at this. "We are adults, Neil, for God's sake!" Melendez let go of one of her hands and grabbed Lim's waist gently. "You are crazy, you know. You say nothing can happen between us and now here you are pulling me closer. What's wrong with you? You did this when you were drunk before we had sex. Are you drunk? Or just the paperwork hacked you?" Lim couldn't stop talking and asking. She was incredibly uncomfortable in this situation. Melendez leaned closer and hinted a brief kiss on her cheek, then let her go completely. "You asshat. You are just messing with me, aren't you?" Lim moaned. "You are a jerk, you know?" she raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms. Melendez started to laugh.

"I'm sorry! But I was serious about what I said before. This would be a tough situation. But I think we can handle it. Like you said, we are adults. I can act like one, so you should try to too." he stated and started laughing again when he saw Lim's face.

"I hate you!" she yammered but she couldn't help smiling at him. "I swear I'll take my revenge that I promised!" she laughed. Melendez shook his head and they just looked at each other for a few seconds.

"So what now?" Melendez broke the silence. He was completely serious this time, no jokes, no misleading.

"I don't want the night we spent together to be our last." Lim said quietly. Melendez glanced at her and give her a small smile.

"Deal. But we have to keep it secret, I'm still standing by that statement." he nodded.

"Agreed. I think we can cope with this downside, can't we?" Lim smiled. "But you really scared me, you know?" she sighed and stepped closer. Melendez put his arms around her but didn't say anything. He meant to be serious with all that explanation on why they can't be together, but somehow he felt sorry for Lim. She opened up, which is hard for her, he was aware of that. He had feelings too, he liked Lim way too much, but he indeed wanted to try to let her go. His heart would have broke, that's for sure, but that would have been the right decision.

"Do you want me to drive you home when they release you?" he asked and stepped back.

"Yes, that would be great, thank you." Lim nodded. "I should go back to my room. I'm sure I'll be free soon, will you wait for me?" she asked.

"I have to finish this pile either way, so yes.

"Okay. I'll text you then. See ya." she turned around and walked back to her room.

She was just in time, doctors and nurses were about to knock in. "I'm here, sorry. I just went for a walk." she smiled at them. She was pretty happy after her talk with Melendez.  
They had her last checkup. She was still bleeding a little bit, but that's expected for a few more days after a miscarriage, nothing to worry about. During the whole examination she was thinking about that next time they have to be more cautious because it seems their organs work great together, they really know their jobs. Yet, it still was so strange -and somewhat depressing- for her to know that she was pregnant and then she lost the baby. As time gone by, the feeling of losing a fetus -their fetus, their baby- was getting harder and harder for Lim. As this thought hit her, she couldn't smile anymore from happiness.

After the visit, she put on normal clothes -jeans and her leather jacket on top of her blouse-, packed everything in her backpack and left the room, but first she sent a message to Melendez saying that she is ready and that she is waiting at the entrance. Melendez was done with his work by then, so he could leave right away.

"Are you okay?" he asked when meeting her. She seemed overwhelmed.

"Yeah, sure. I just want to be at home finally." she sighed. No, she wasn't right, but she knew for sure that time will heal her problem.


	11. Chapter 11

Melendez drove Lim home. They were both silent during the ride, because although Melendez wanted to ask many things from Lim, he was sure this wasn't the time as she looked pretty overwhelmed.  
When arriving to Lim's condo, Melendez just looked at her and waited for her to say anything.

"Thank you..." Lim sighed. "Do you want to come in?" she glanced at him while searching for her keys.

"I'd love to." he nodded. "But do you want me to come in?" he asked before moving. Lim had to think it over. He was right, Lim wanted to be alone. Wanted to shower, eat some junk food and sleep, but before she could answer, Melendez's phone started buzzing. "Well, sorry, it's not a question anymore. I have to go back to the hospital." he informed her while reading the message he got.

"I understand. Okay. You can call me when you're free." Lim opened the door and got out of the car. "I'll be home if you want to visit later." she added.

"Okay, I'll call. See you later." Melendez nodded and Lim shut the door so he could rush back to the hospital. She watched him leave and with the distance growing between them, she felt more and more lonely. She denied her need of his company, but now she really longed to hug Melendez and feel safe in his arms.

Melendez was thinking on his way back about this whole thing between them. It was so strange, so confusing and so not right. He always loved being around her, but he had some doubts now. Are they even meant to be together or is sex the only thing that works between them? He wasn't even sure what Lim wants because they couldn't talk about it yet.

Melendez arrived back to the hospital quickly. He had to perform a transplant surgery. I patient, called Oliver Wega was on the transplant list for almost three years after a liver failure caused by an autoimmune disease, but now it seemed that this was his time to get a new liver. Oliver was already prepared for surgery so Melendez changed his clothes and rushed to scrub in. What he wasn't expecting is to meet the donor's mother on his way.

"Are you the surgeon to perform this surgery? The liver transplant?" the elderly woman asked him.

"Yes Ma'am and I'm in a rush." he nodded and continued his way to the OR. The woman followed him. "I'm sorry, you are not allowed in here. Please, stay outside." he stopped her but the woman grabbed his arm.

"Please just listen to me." she started to tear up. "My baby girl is laying on one of those tables. Her name is Abby, she graduated a few weeks ago from university. Please take care of her." she begged Melendez with tears rolling down her cheeks. Melendez wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, but he nodded.

"All right, I'll make sure she is in good hands. But I have to go now." he pulled his arm out of her hands and headed to the OR. He quickly scrubbed in and prepared his mind to the surgery. "Okay, details please." he asked the nurses.

"Acceptor name, Oliver Wega, age forty. Blood type A+. He had a partial liver failure three years ago from Lupus. The donor is Abigail Justin. Brain dead after a car crash. Age twenty-six. Blood type A+. Perfect match." the matron informed him. "Are you ready, Dr Melendez?" she glanced at him.

"You said Abigail?" Melendez asked back. _"Abby..."_

"Yes, Sir. We are ready for surgery." she nodded.

"Alright, me too. Let's change a life with a new organ." Melendez smiled a little bit and stepped closer. He glanced at the girl. She was damn young and beautiful. He couldn't help thinking about that he promised the mother that he will take care of her daughter. He wasn't aware of the fact that her daughter is the donor and as he could notice, the mum wasn't aware either.

Two and a half hours later he announced that the procedure is done, they all closed up, counted the equipment in the OR and made sure everything was great around the transplant, but Melendez got a call right before leaving.

"Take out all the healthy organs. We need her hearth, lungs, kidneys. We have a general donor assignment paper signed by her mum. Do it before the organs are unusable." Andrews ordered. Melendez was quite sure that the mother didn't know what she just signed, but he had to act quickly.

"Work on the heart first. I'll start there but I'll need some help. Is any of my residents available?" he asked in a rush.

"Dr Park is in the ER, he just finished a surgery with Dr Trent."

"Perfect, page him. Stat." he ordered and opened up the chest immediately. Park arrived in a few minutes, scrubbed in and stood across the table facing Melendez.

"What should I do?" Park asked.

"Help me with the heart then we will do the lungs next." informed him Melendez.

It took them almost four hours to take out all of her good organs. All together it was a seven-hours-long surgery for Melendez and let's say, he was exhausted by the end.

"Good job, Dr Park, thank you for helping me out." Melendez thanked Park for his work and finally he could get out of the OR. He got rid of all the bloody scrubs, masks, gloves and washed his hands. Fortunately, all the organs were about to be transported to other hospitals which meant Melendez didn't have to perform those transplants. He was tired enough.  
He was on his way to the dressing room to get the out of the hospital finally -since it had been almost eleven p.m.- but he pumped into someone in the hallway.

"Doctor! This was a long surgery. What happened? Is my baby girl okay?" she rushed to him when she noticed him coming. "She is safe, right?" she smiled with hope in her eyes.

"Ma'am. Are you aware of your daughter's condition pre surgery?" Melendez asked politely.

"Sure?" she raised her eyebrows. "She needed surgery. I signed everything that was needed. She is okay now, right?" she asked. Melendez sighed.

"Please, sit down." he pointed on the chairs and he sat down too. "Your daughter had a car crash yesterday. She didn't have any brain function since, which means she was brain dead. That's an irreversible status." he started slowly. "We weren't able to save your daughter. She would never have woken up again. But she was an organ donor. The papers you signed were about using all her organs we could to save other patients life who were on the transplant list for a long time. My sincere condolences to the family." he finished. "We saved six lives with your daughter's organs." he added and waited afterwards. She couldn't even realize what happened.

"So...when can I visit her?" she asked and looked at Melendez. It was clear that she didn't understand what Melendez just explained -or she was just exclaiming.

"Ma'am, your daughter is gone. She is dead." Melendez stated it clearly.

"All right, I will come back later then and see if I can visit her." she smiled and stood up. "Thank you, Dr ...?"

"Melendez. But Ma'am...wait, you won't...be able…to visit her anymore." Melendez tried to say, but the woman left by then. Melendez just remained silent. His brain just couldn't process this event; he was way too exhausted to understand what was going on. "Oh dear lord..." he sighed and stood up slowly. He went to change his clothes in the dressing room and grabbed his car keys -while still thinking about this woman.

Honestly he really wanted to stop by Lim's condo, but it was just too late ad this day turned into a mess, so he sent a text meassage to her to apologize. _"I finished now. I'm going home to have some rest. Sorry. Gnight"_


	12. Chapter 12

Lim patiently waited to hear from Melendez, but as time passed by, she started a film on her bedroom TV and fell asleep almost immediately. After having some noodle soup, a warm bath with a glass of wine and badass music, she calmed down a bit. She felt like herself again. Despite this, she had a pretty rough sleep. A nightmare haunted her. Or maybe she wouldn't even call it a nightmare -she claimed that she had never had a nightmare yet since she is tough- but she definitely wasn't okay after waking up and remembering the dream.

In her dream, Lim and Melendez had been together as a couple a bit longer than they are actually now. (Are they even a couple?) Lim was expecting and this time she knew about it. They planned that baby, wanted that baby and she was ready to become a mum. They even knew that it's going to be a baby girl, but at around the beginning of the sixth month, which is pretty early, Lim started to feel contractions and her water broke. She was alone somewhere, at a place she had never been at before, only by herself. She panicked, she was in really bad pain and she knew that her baby is too underdeveloped to survive the birth under these circumstances. She was screaming for Neil, but he was nowhere around...she had to deliver the baby without any help and support. Her pain was unbelievable but she did it anyways. After several pushed, she could hold her daughter in her arms, but the baby didn't show any signs of life; Lim knew that she didn't survive. That's the point where she woke up.

It has been around dawn, she suddenly sat up and tried to catch her breath. She was sweating and she had some tears in her eyes -she was crying in her dream- that she swiped away. She buried her face in her palms and tried to calm down for minutes. "It was just a dream..." she moaned. She took a deep breath and looked up again. She reached for her phone and checked whether Melendez called or texted her, that's when she noticed the message. She was already asleep last night when Melendez sent it to her. She desperately wanted to call him to have some comfort, but it was the middle of the night and she didn't want to wake him up. She got up and walked out to the kitchen to drink some water. She couldn't sleep back anymore.

Melendez's head was full of the previous day's events, with Lim, with Abby and her mother, but he knocked himself out so bad he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Despite his tiredness, he woke up pretty early. He was still sleepy, but his mind didn't want to sleep. He needed to process the day before.  
He yawned a big, but didn't open his eyes, he still wanted to get back to sleep. His mind was working already. It was thinking about their 'relationship' this time. He thought he would have had a better sleep next to Lim -she thought the same- but he still had some groundless doubts and fears about this.

He slowly woke up completely, yawned again and rubbed his face. He wasn't a morning person, especially after a bad night. He grabbed his phone and looked up for any notifications, but there wasn't any. He checked their texting with Lim, but she didn't answer last night. He decided to greet her in the morning.

_"Good morning, what's up? You awake?"_

Lim was sitting in the bathtub, chilling when she got the text. Warm baths always calmed her, she could forget about the dream. _"Yeah. Chilling in the bath. Call?" _she texted back immediately.

A few minutes went by, Lim figured Melendez changed his mind, but in reality he was just prepping his morning coffee in the kitchen, but soon he scuffed back to the bedroom with his mug and crawled back to bed. He read the message there and called her right away.

"Hey, Neil." Lim greeted him like there was nothing wrong. She truly believed that she can fight with the effects of that terrible dream.

"Good morning." Melendez smiled hearing her voice. "I'm sorry, I had a liver transplant yesterday and I had to take out the other organs too. It was...a mess. I came home at eleven p.m." he explained.

"Nah, it's okay. I had a chilly evening. Noodle soup, long bath, loud music." she smiled. She closed away the thoughts and the memory of the dream, like it didn't even exist.

"Lovely. So are you feeling better? Are you in the bath again, am I right?" he chuckled. He could imagine her wet body underwater and oh boy, he wanted to see it in person.

"Yepp. I'm okay. I would like to go back to work, but according to Andrews, I need a break, so I guess I'll have one now." she sighed. "Yeah, I'm in the bath, what are you doing?"

"Sipping my coffee. Couldn't sleep very well."

"Well, that makes us two." she whispered but didn't say anything else.

"I'm working today, but I can come over after my shift. Around five p.m. If you want me to, of course." Melendez offered.

"Sure. I'll grab something for dinner then."

"Sounds like a plan." Melendez smiled and looked at his watch. "I should get up and get dressed, I'm gonna be late. But see you later today."

"Okay, bye."

Melendez had a pretty basic day in the hospital, so did Lim at home. After her bath, she left the house to buy some groceries and she even attended to cook something for themselves for dinner. Melendez headed to Lim's place right after work, by that time Lim was waiting for him at home with a freshly cooked meal. Melendez was secretly hoping for something more than just dinner with her, maybe some dessert afterwards, so he knocked in with high expectations.

"Hey!" Lim opened the door with a smile.

"Hey! Where did you hide this smiley Audrey the last month?" Melendez chuckled.

"Shut up or I won't let you in!" Lim laughed but opened up the door anyways.

"Sorry. But it's good to see you smiling finally. You've been grumpy lately." he stated and walked in, closed the door behind himself. "I missed this side of you." he smiled and tilted his head. Lim shook her head with a smile on her face and stepped closer.

"I missed you too." she whispered. Melendez grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, put his arms around her waist and kissed her lips. "And this. Definitely missed this." she chuckled and leaned back to his lips.

They both felt desire for this in the last month, but they fought against it; now they couldn't hold it back anymore. Warming up with kisses leaned against the door, they quickly found themselves in the bedroom. Lim being on top, sitting on his laps buttoned down Melendez's shirt then didn't stop before his pants either. She unbraced his belt and unzipped his zipper. Melendez sat up, grabbed Lim's comfy shirt she wore at home and took it off her and threw it away. He stroked her smooth back skin and his brain led his hands down to her butt while he was kissing her neck.

"Wait..." Lim stopped his hands suddenly.

"What's that? Did I do something wrong?" Melendez asked.

"No, not you. It's me." she sighed and rolled down from his lap, sat on the side of the bed.

"Audrey...please, tell me, what's going on!" he watched her.

"Nothing! I'm fine!" she glanced back. "Sorry, I don't want to do this now." she stood up, picked up her shirt and left Melendez alone in the room. She couldn't admit, but deep down she was afraid of getting pregnant again, which was crazy, but she couldn't fight with this feeling. She knew that sex between them is amazing, but this time the fear was bigger than the desire.


	13. Chapter 13

"Audrey, please! I'm so sorry, I don't want to force anything on you, but please, help me understand what's going on!" Melendez rushed to reach Lim. She was in the kitchen, leaned to the kitchen sink facing the wall.

"It's not your fault. I simply don't want to have sex now, okay?" Lim sighed. "Are you hungry? I cooked for dinner." she changed the topic immediately.

"Yes, we could eat, if that's what you want." Melendez nodded. He tried really hard to accept that she doesn't want to talk about this, but he couldn't hold it back. "It's about the miscarriage, isn't it?"

Lim remained silent, stepped to the cupboard and took out some plates. "Maybe." she whispered. "Partly..." Melendez watched her and stepped closer. He opened up his arms to show Lim that he is ready to comfort her if she wantschim to; and Lim sure needed a hug right now. She leaned to Melendez and hugged him like she wanted to get lost in his arms. "I'm sorry." she mumbled. Melendez put both his arms tight around her and kisses her forehead.

"I's okay. I get it, it must be tough for you..." he whispered with a calming voice. His heart broke seeing Lim so vulnerable like never before. "I'm here for you. We can talk about it or just hug all night like this if it calms you down and makes you feel better." he smiled a little bit at her and started to stroke her back. He didn't have his shirt on, jeans still unbuttoned, but he didn't care. Lim actually enjoyed the feeling of his skin touching hers, she could sniff his great scent and she could hear his heartbeat. She closed her eyes and tried to forget about her dream, she locked the bad thoughts out of her mind and focused on the moment with Melendez. She had never felt this loved before.

Minutes passed by, Lim was on the edge of falling asleep and so was Melendez. They both had a rough night beforehand. Melendez's stomach broke the silence with a massive, loud grumble. "Oh boy, I'm really hungry..." he chuckled. Lim looked up at him smiling and leaned closer to a kiss. "What was this for?" Melendez asked with a huge smile on his face.

"To say 'Thank you' without words. But don't get used to me being this cute too often." she shook her head and let Melendez go.

"Okay." he laughed. "Now, give me food, woman!" he sat down waiting for his meal.

"Hah, yeah, but it won't happen often either. I hate cooking, I just thought...this is our first proper date or something, I figured we should do this in style, shouldn't we?" Lim explained while serving the food for themselves.

"You are right. I didn't even think about this night as a date. I should put my shirt back on though." he stood up. He felt inappropriate without a shirt on a date night.

"You could...actually stay like this. I wouldn't mind it." Lim shrugged her shoulder and ran her eyes all the way down on his upper body. Melendez started to laugh and sat back.

"Are you a little bit keyed up, aren't you?" he laughed at her, she just threw a rag on him in return. "Okay, sorry!" he shook his head while still laughing.

They had a fun time eating and drinking some wine in addition. They could spend the evening together in great mood and despite the previous issue, at the end of the day when they got there again, Lim was relaxed enough so she could fully enjoy making love with Melendez. They were just lying in bed afterwards, Lim nestled in Melendez's arm and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Was this worth it?" Melendez smiled at her.

"Oh yes, this was great. Better than I remembered, to be honest..." she chuckled. Her body and soul were both happy and her mind and heart were full of joy, no more nightmares or misgivings. She was peaceful finally.

"I'm happy to hear that. It was great for me, too." he smiled and kissed her forehead. "Good night, Audrey." he whispered. Lim just hummed in return since she was almost asleep by then.

The week of home-rest for Lim went by pretty quickly. Melendez spent four nights out of six at Lim's place after his shifts. They enjoyed the time together, they were happy, calm, sex was great and it all seemed perfect. It was easy to keep this in secret since only Melendez went to work on a daily basis, Lim didn't, but this period came to an end. On the next Monday, it was Lim's day to get back to work after a week. She was so ready, she truly missed her job and her colleagues, but mostly she missed the OR.

She woke up next to Melendez on that morning too. She couldn't be more excited. Their alarms started buzzing and ringing at the same time, but Lim was already awake by then. She rolled over to the other side of the bed and leaned closer to Melendez.

"I'm going back to work, Neil!" Lim smiled. Melendez slowly opened his eyes and yawned a big. "Wake up! I want to leave early, I want to be the first there in this shift." she chuckled and kissed Melendez, then tried to sit up, but he grabbed her waist and pulled her on top of him.

"You are so thrilling when you are excited." he smiled and kissed her again. "But please, shift starts at eight p.m., it's only half past five. No need to hurry this much." he tilted his head.

"You can't get enough of it, can you?" Lim laughed. Her hand was already sliding down on Melendez's chest and abdomen.

"No, this is my guilty pleasure..." he smiled and pulled her for a kiss.

Half an hour -and a marvelous lovemaking- later Lim was up, headed to the bathroom to shower before work. She dressed up, did her light makeup, put her hair up in the regular bun and she was ready, meanwhile Melendez finally got out of bed and scuffed to the kitchen to have some coffee.

"Hey, what about your 'morning sex is better than coffee' statement you made a few days ago?" Lim showed up behind his back.

"Nah, that's still true, but not at six a.m." he shook his head while Lim started laughing. "Why did you want to get up this early anyways?" he asked.

"I want to be early in work. I haven't been there since the day after the quarantine and my miscarriage. You know, I don't know what to expect. How it feels to be back. I'm really happy though, I just want to take my time, you know." she explained. She started to prepare some breakfast. "I also think we shouldn't arrive at around the same time, so we have to figure this out." she added.

"Yes, I know. Also, we have to be well behaved in work. No kissing, no flirting, no sneak smiling or touching." Melendez nodded. "Although I think I'll be the one to struggle with not crossing the line." he shook his head and laughed.

"Agreed. But in the hospital, we are just 'Lim and Melendez, friends since college.' Understood?" Lim smiled. She was sure that someone will notice something sooner or later but she was hoping it to happen later.

After breakfast, at around seven, Lim left the house first, told Melendez to close every door after he left too and give back the key during the day. Lim arrived to the hospital, she changed her clothes right away in the dressing room and then she headed to the ER. She really didn't know what feeling to expect there, but as she arrived, it seemed to be neutral. It really surprised her but she was okay with not having any bad memories coming up.  
Dr Muprhy was the next to arrive, then Reznick, Park and Browne. They all greeted Lim and were happy to see her back. Nobody dared to ask anything in connection with the miscarriage, only the commonplace 'How are you doing? Are you feeling better?' questions. Sure, she was fine, since she could keep herself busy with something all the time and she wasn't really thinking about all that this way.

They were all covering the ER that day, so the first surgery came in fast. Car crash, broken ribs, fractured lungs, nothing special, but it made Lim so happy to be in the OR again. Everyone could notice that Lim was groundlessly hyped, but they all thought -except Shaun- that it was because of her first day back at work.

"Are you happy because you can be back to surgeries or because you had sex with someone last night?" Shaun asked out of the blue. Lim got shocked right away, so did Morgan and Park.

"It's the first one, obviously." Lim raised her eyebrows. "I was off for a week, of course I'm happy." she stated.

"How do you know she had sex?" Morgan asked Shaun.

"She smelled like men's scent in the morning and she is probably not using it on herself." Shaun explained his theory.

"Well you are wrong then. I haven't had sex since my divorce." Lim shook her head. She was actually pretty impressed by her lying skills. "Can we focus on this woman please? She still has a hole in her side." she looked over at all the residents with a serious face.


	14. Chapter 14

Shaun and Morgan remained silent until the end of the surgery after their awkward conversation about Lim's sexual life. Obviously nobody believed her.

"Dr Lim. The operation is over, can I talk now?" Shaun asked while scrubbing out.

"It depends on what you want to say." Lim sighed while washing her hands.

"You had your divorce three years ago, but your miscarriage was last week, which means you had to have sex since, which means you lied to us." he started to explain his theory again. "You try to deny it, which means you are either ashamed of it or the man is someone we know." he nodded.

"Shaun, my sexual life is none of your business. I'm neither ashamed or sleeping with anyone from the hospital if that's what you mean, so you should get over it." Lim tried really hard to stay calm, but she was at a point where she wanted to shut him up somehow since he was really close to the truth. He basically knew everything except the actuall identity of Lim's secret lover. He was way too smart, Lim knew that in the matter of time, he will know that it's Melendez and then sure he wouldn't be able to keep it in secret.

Melendez was in his office when someone knocked in. "Come in!" he shouted. A familiar face showed up in the door. He knew that he met her not so long ago, but didn't know exactly, when.

"Dr Melendez, I'm Sarah Justin, Abby's mum." she introduced herself, Melendez could immediately remember her daughter's case.

"Yes, hello. How are you?" Melendez stood up, got around his desk and leaned against it. She was pretty upset when they last met. Or maybe that's not the right word; she couldn't even believe her daughter's death.

"I'm far from fine, but I'm okay now. I miss her, obviously..." she answered. Melendez could see her eyes tearing up. "I came because I hope you can help me."

"In what, Ma'am?"

"In finding the acceptors of my daughter's organs."

Lim and her team worked their butts of in the ER that day, they had several surgeries, but for Lim the most tiring were smaller injuries or simply headaches and minor diseases. They are not interesting nor exciting and Lim always gets tired of being bored.  
Before her shift was over, she quickly rushed up to Melendez's office to get her keys back. She knocked in the door and stepped in after Melendez's call in.

"Dr Lim! Welcome back, how are you feeling?" he smiled at her. He tried really hard to keep it casual. Lim closed the door behind herself and looked up at Melendez.

"We are in trouble. Murphy somehow sniffed your scent on me and he is now playing a guess game over my lover." she seemed really worried.

"Crap..." Melendez sighed and shook his head. "He is too smart. You have to figure out something before he finds out about me!"

"Yeah? Really, thanks for your help!" Lim raised her eyebrows. "You are in this too, not just me! And it has only been my first day back in the hospital since we are dating. We haven't even met today! I can't believe he has such a sharp nose!" she moaned. "Anyways. We can talk about this later. I just came for my keys. My shift is almost over, I'll go home. Still, you can come over later." she smiled. Melendez reached to his jacket and pulled out Lim's keys from the pocket.

"Here." he gave it to her. "Sorry, not today. I have some work left and I sure won't be in the mood after." he sighed.

"Why, what do you have to do?" she tilted her head.

"You remember the mother I told you about? Who didn't believe her daughter's death? Now she is back and she wants me to find every acceptor who has any of the girl's organs. ASAP. So I'll have a long night I think." he explained.

"You can do this tomorrow too. Don't stay in late. You have to have some rest. We didn't sleep much last night..." a playful smile appeared on her face. "I really have to go now. See you later. Bye." she smiled and left Melendez's office.

"Bye." Melendez whispered more to himself since Lim had left by then. He had to get back to searching for the patients for Ms Justin if he didn't want to spend the night there. Lim went back to the ER for a last check in, noted that Shaun and the other residents could handle everything while she was gone, so at the end of her shift, she could leave in time.  
Melendez was in for three more hours, but fortunately he could find every single patient with any of Abby's organs. He made a list with all of their contacts that he can handle to the mother later.

Lim was so excited to be working again she even undertook two extra shifts for the weekend. Melendez had his own shifts and with Lim's extra hours it was almost impossible for them to manage to spend their free time together. Actually, Lim didn't mind a little break from being together all the time; she wanted to make sure that nobody could find out about their relationship. Every time they met in work they acted casually, just like before so they weren't suspicious. They even had some bigger surgical cases together that they could solve easily as a team. Everything worked out fine -except one thing.

"Lim, can we talk in my office?" Melendez asked Lim and headed to the mentioned location right away. She was in the middle of a conversation with someone else, but that could wait.

"Sure. Wait!" Lim rushed after him. He seemed pretty serious and she was just hoping it wasn't in connection of their relationship. Melendez opened up his door for Lim and closed it behind themselves. "Is everything okay?" she asked terrified.

"Andrews hired a new guy as chief of surgery!"

"Really?" Lim widened her eyes. "Are you sure or is this just a rumor? We could expect this tough since he clearly doesn't want any of us in this position." she sighed.

"I'm sure, Aoki told me a few minutes ago. His name is Dr Han. Sounds like a jerk..."

"Neil, you shouldn't be biased against him because of his name or because he got the job instead one of us. When is his first day?"

"Tomorrow. I guess we will see. But I have some misgivings about him..." he shook his head.

"Nah, I'm sure Andrews hired him on purpose, so he'll be fine, you will see. But I have to go back to work now, sorry." she tilted her head. Despite what she just said, she stayed for a little bit more.

"What's that?" Melendez asked.

"I miss you. Are you free tonight?" she smiled. He looked at her and nodded with a smile also. "Great. May I go to your condo this time?"

"No, I can go over. I'm getting used to your place. I basically lived there for a week, so..." he shrugged his shoulders. "But I don't want to disturb you. You can go now if you want to..." he smiled

"Stop teasing me with a look like that!" Lim laughed. "I have to. But see you tonight, right?" she headed in the direction of the door slowly.

"Yes Ma'am. Get prepared for something extreme. Just because it's been a week since last time..."

"Stop it! I'll go now before you drive me crazy!" Lim exclaimed and left the office quickly, Melendez just remained there laughing.


	15. Chapter 15

Lim arrived home pretty early that day; or at least compared to the previous days in this week. She even had a quick turn to the grocery store but she decided not to cook for dinner. She still hated cooking, she preferred ordering some delivery food that they choose together from a restaurant with Melendez.  
He really keyed Lim up with his revealing part his plans for the night. Somehow she felt more and more clinging to Melendez although they only had been together for two weeks. She needed his company, he was her therapy after work.

It took two extra hours for Melendez to arrive at Lim's condo. Sure Lim was excited by then but she was still a master of hiding her feelings, so she had her perfect poker face on instead of a playful smile when she opened the door.

"Hey." Melendez smiled. "I've got some wine and food." he handed Lim a plastic back with everything he got on his way here.

"Oh, great, I haven't cooked anyways and I'm starving." she chuckled. Melendez walked in like he was at home, he kicked off his shoes and hang his jacket on the hanger.

"Starving, huh? I knew that this was a long week." he smiled playfully.

"Ah, I see your tactics here. You are driving me crazy all day with your teasing so I'll want to skip everything before going to bed, aren't you?" she laughed. "I'm still more hungry for food than you right now, I'm sorry..." she shook her head but leaned closer for a kiss. "But after eating...nothing can stop us, I promise." she whispered. Melendez returned her kiss and nodded.

"You see in me, woman, but okay, I accept my faith." he chuckled.

After dinner, they sat down on the couch with the bottle of wine and two glasses. Melendez put his arm around Lim's shoulder as she leaned against his chest. It seemed to be the most comfortable way to sit together. They were chatting a little bit, discussing their week and that they definitely shouldn't spend one more week separately. Lim apologized for being carried away with work for the past few days since it was mainly her fault, although both of them had pretty bad schedules.

"I'm really curious about this new chief." Lim admitted after talking about the news they got that day.

"Me too. I hope he won't be a jackass. Bosses can be pretty rude especially when they get hired at a new place without knowing anyone. He may think he is the president of the whole hospital."

"Until he is not a jerk with me or my residents, I don't care." Lim shrugged her shoulder.

"I can be the only arrogant surgeon there." Melendez chuckled. "Yeah, Murphy mentioned the other day that I'm pretty calm lately. I guess it's because I had to stop teasing you in work. Do you miss it though?"

"Hah, yeah, I miss calling you an asshat in front of the residents." Lim started laughing.

"Okay, I can be a jerk with you again, if that's what you want, Dr Lim." he poked her side, which caused Lim to jump a little.

"You crazy! I almost spilled my wine!" she laughed. They both put down their glasses before breaking any of them. "Oh I should really take my revenge on you finally! I've been promising it for more than a month now!"

"True. I can't wait..." Melendez nodded. Lim turned to Melendez, leaned closer.

"I bet you don't want me to take my revenge on you with sending you home right now?" she smiled.

"No, please!" Melendez looked at her with begging eyes. "I can't handle one more night without you." he whispered. He looked deep in her eyes and stroked her cheek gently with his hand. "You are beautiful..."

"Stop talking, just kiss me already..." she smiled and closed her eyes as Melendez's lips touched hers. She fondled his hair, ran her fingers through it while Melendez slid his hand all the way from her face through her neck, chest, down on her side to her thighs. He easily unbuttoned and zipped down her jeans, then pulled up and took off her blouse so his hand can explore under it. Melendez laid Lim back so he was on top, although the couch wasn't the most comfortable but he had other plans anyways. He pulled down her jeans slowly while crawling down, kissing her chest and abdomen all the way. Her smooth skin still fascinated him every time he could feel it.

Started on the couch, ended in the bedroom but they had several stages in-between including the carpet, Lim's work desk in the living room and the bedroom wall. As Melendez predicted, it was extreme, wild and better than ever before. It wasn't just pure sex anymore like the first time. They had serious feelings for each other that broke the surface every time they touched and kissed each other. Melendez was really gentle with Lim, stroked every part of her body with smooth hands that brought extra pleasure for her. Lim got more confident over time. She started to learn every little tweak that makes it even more satisfying for Melendez for example little bites on his neck and chest. They were indeed a perfect pair in bed -and with every night they spent together they fell in love a little bit more with each other.


	16. Chapter 16

"I can't get enough of you, Audrey Lim..." Melendez smiled at her and kissed her forehead. Lim chuckled a little bit and clung to him. "Seriously, my life before you being involved in it feels like a waste of time." he admitted.

"What?" Lim raised her eyebrow and looked up at him. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"I mean...I enjoy life with you. It must sound stupid in this early stage of our relationship, but it's better so far than with any of my previous girlfriends." he explained. "I can't believe I almost married Jessica..." he shook his head. Lim seemed a little confused by this.

"Neil, I want to take this slow, okay?" she said seriously. "I love it with you like this. I'm not ready for anything more yet..."

"No, no! I didn't mean I'll propose tomorrow or anything. I like our current stage, don't get me wrong. I would be okay with doing this forever..." he smiled. Lim calmed down a bit.

"Okay." she nodded. "I would like this for good too though." she laid her head back on Melendez's shoulder. She had learned the lesson with her disastrous marriage, she didn't want to ruin this with going fast again.

They both fell asleep quickly. Despite Lim being so happy with Melendez, sometimes she still had dreams; not as bad as the first one, but still in connection with the miscarriage. She buried the bad feelings, but deep down she felt pretty crap still about it. She knew that Melendez would have wanted kids with Jessica and she was sure this didn't change with her either, although they were far from that stage yet fortunately. Yet, she felt like she betrayed Melendez since she wasn't ready to become a mum but with that child his dream of being a dad would have come true. Lim had never talked about this to Melendez and she didn't even plan to; this had to be her secret that she had to live with.

Lim had to wake up early, her shift started at seven a.m.. Melendez was only scheduled for the afternoon, so she turned off her alarm quickly and got up from bed in order to avoid waking him up. She headed to the bathroom in silence, showered, did her light makeup and her hair up in a bun all at once and went back to the bedroom just to dress up. In spite of being so quiet, Melendez was already awake.

"Oh, good morning. You can go back to sleep, I'm going to leave soon. You can stay and hand me my keys later today." she said.

"Your hair is so gorgeous, why are you hiding it all the time?" he asked while watching her dressing up. Lim laughed at this.

"Because it bothers me in work, but did you hear anything from what I just said?" she chuckled.

"Of course. Okay, thanks. I might go home before my shift though just to have some fresh clothes." he said and rolled to his other side. Lim nodded and continued her morning preparation. She made some coffee in the kitchen, had a toast as quick breakfast and basically she was ready to leave.

"All right, I'm out. I don't want to be late on my new boss' first day." she sighed.

"Oh crap, I totally forgot about that." Melendez moaned. "All right, go and kick some asses today like nothing has changed. You'll be fine." he smiled at her. Lim came around the bed to Melendez's side and leaned closer for a kiss.

"Thank you, I know..." she chuckled and Melendez shook his head. "See ya. Have some sleep. Bye." she smiled and left the bedroom. She grabbed her jacket and her cool leather backpack, put on her shoes and left the house. Melendez was still so sleepy he could fall asleep again almost immediately.

Lim arrived to the hospital almost half an hour pro-shift, but she didn't mind, at least she was there in time for sure. She changed her clothes to her scrubs, then just sat down at her desk in her office. She couldn't even imagine this new guy, but she didn't even have to. Ten minutes before her shift started Andrews knocked in with the new chief of surgery, Dr Han by his side.

"Good morning, Dr Lim! Just a quick introduction. This is Dr Jackson Han, the new chief." Andrews smiled. Lim jumped up from her chair and stepped closer to shake hands with Han.

"I'm Dr Audrey Lim, attending trauma surgeon! Welcome in St Bonaventure, Sir." Lim smiled but he didn't return her kindness.

"Trauma surgeon, you said? You must be a pretty tough woman then." he nodded but Lim couldn't decide whether he meant it as a compliment or a shame, but she smiled anyways.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"You should be down in the ER, shouldn't you?" Han asked Lim. She looked at her clock on the wall and shook her head.

"I have ten minutes. I had some paperwork to do in here, but I'll be there after." she answered.

"Choosing a pile of paper over saving lives is interesting, but it's your choice." Han shrugged his shoulder. Lim simply raised her eyebrows in surprise but decided to remain silent.

"Have a nice day." Andrews smiled at Lim and they left her office.

"You too, Dr Andrews." she nodded and watched them leave. _"He really is a jerk."_ she thought.

After quickly finishing her paperwork, she headed to the ER even before her shift started. Shaun and Morgan greeted her down there.

"Have you met our new boss yet?" Lim asked them quietly.

"You mean Dr Han? Yes, Andrews introduced him to us." Shaun nodded. "He seems nice. He asked about my condition, he really cares about us." he smiled. Morgan and Lim looked at each other. They knew Han didn't ask because he cares about how Shaun feels.

"Yeah, pretty nice. He criticized me for doing my paperwork before my shift. Insane." Lim shook her head.

"Everyone hated me when I came here, but it changed after you got to know me better. Maybe he is a good guy deep down." Morgan shrugged her shoulder.

"Most of the hospital still hates you, Morgan, because you are rude and way too competitive." Shaun said. Lim couldn't help laughing at this. Morgan looked at them with a serious face.

"Not us! We like you, right Shaun?" Lim smiled and quickly left them before an argument. "Let's get to work!" she ordered them.


	17. Chapter 17

Lim had a car crash survivor coming in soon after her shift actually started. Her name was Layla Banks, in her late thirties and she suffered severe injuries on her upper body. There was a twist that made this case even more complicated. She was six months pregnant. Lim's team took her to the OR almost immediately because most likely she had hemorrhage in her abdomen, which also meant that the baby was in danger. While nurses prepared the patient, Lim scrubbed in quickly with Shaun and Morgan and got ready for the surgery.

"Blade. I'm opening up the abdomen. Note that she is six-months so the fetus is still placing lower in the uterus but we don't know the origin of the bleeding, so we might go down there. Make sure not to hurt the uterus." Lim cautioned everyone. She made an incision and blood covered everything immediately. "Suction. I can't see anything. I think the artery is injured, which is unpleasant." she sighed. They could hear the beeping from the monitors.

"Blood pressure is drooping." a nurse informed Lim.

"Great. She is going to run out of blood this way. We need blood transfusion for her, stat. Murphy, can you see the injured blood vessel?" Lim asked.

"No, there is too much blood in her abdominal cavity." he shook his head then he noticed something. "It has to be right below her twelfth rib. It could easily break from the safety belt."

"Right. Then suction and look there. I'll check on the fetus until." Lim was positive that Murphy can handle this from now. His vision was incredible so if he thought that the bleeding comes from there, he is probably right.

"Dr Lim, control the bleeding first. We have to save the mother to save the fetus." Lim could hear an unfamiliar voice from above. She looked up and noticed her new boss.

"Dr Murphy can control the bleeding, I want to save them both!" she answered. "Murphy, continue!" Lim ordered. The next time she looked up, Han wasn't there anymore.

"Blood pressure is rising. Good job, Dr Murphy." a nurse nodded. Lim looked up, checked on him.

"Yes, indeed. Congrats." Lim smiled although she had a misgiving about Han's appearance. "Now close her up. The uterus seems fine but I want to do an ultrasound to make sure." she sighed. A nurse got an ultrasound machine so Lim could examine while Murphy and Reznick did the suturing. "Now let's see..." she mumbled. They could all hear the weak heartbeat but Lim couldn't see anything on the monitor. "There is blood around the fetus. The umbilical cord might be injured and that's not great news..." she shook her head. "Finish the sutures up there, but I have to open up her lower abdomen. Blade." she made an incision and took a look at the uterus. There was a tear on the uterus wall from the other side that Lim couldn't see when she checked a few minutes ago. There was blood in the uterus instead of amniotic liquid. She could see the fetus inside. She seemed confident, but besides a C-section she performed as a resident she hasn't really done anything like this. She kinda knew what she has to do, but it was mostly improvisation. "Are you done, Murphy? I need a hand. I don't know how I'll replace the water but let's suck out the blood first."

"We can make amniotic liquid. It's just water with solute proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and phospholipids. And urea but that comes from the baby so we don't have to include that in the water." Shaun explained. Lim nodded.

"Great. Rush to the lab and tell them to mix up about three liters for us about what you just said." Lim ordered Shaun and he did as she said. Scrubbed out quickly and headed to the pathology. "I'm afraid the fetus drunk some blood." she said after cleaning the uterus. "But as I can see the cord is intact, which is good. I'll need the smallest tube we have for suction." she turned to the nurses. She took a deep breath. She was about to take the fetus out of the uterus and attempt to suck the blood out from its lungs and digestive system.

"Are you sure, Dr Lim? I mean...it's tiny and fragile." Reznick said.

"I know, but I want to give it every chance to live. With blood in its lungs it won't be able to develop properly." Lim nodded. The door opened and Murphy came back. "This was quick." Lim turned there but she realized he wasn't quick because he'd got everything they needed. "Dr Han, what are you doing in here?"

"I bumped into Dr Murphy and he told me your plan and I came to talk you out of this. It's insane and you would just risk the mother's life. You shouldn't rely on his crazy ideas." Han pointed at Murphy.

"Why? It's a great idea, it might work! I would save the fetus with it! What do you have against it?" Lim asked. She was getting angry at this guy. He came to judge her decision and she didn't like the idea.

"Nobody has ever done anything like this before, you neither, or am I wrong? If you can't save the fetus, take it out and you'll save the mum with that. I want you to make objective decisions."

"Why wouldn't I be objective?" Lim raised her eyebrows.

"Because you had a miscarriage few weeks ago. But because you couldn't protect your child you don't have to play a goddess over this fetus. You can't save everyone." Han threw this on Lim and her heart just broke from it. This was the last thing she needed to hear now but despite falling apart inside she tried to seem calm outside.

"My miscarriage has nothing to do with this case. Murphy, go and get that water. Dr Han, I politely ask you to leave the OR. Now!" she looked at him. "This is my case, not yours and I'm saving them both. It's my objective decision!" she stated and turned back to the woman on the table to continue the surgery.

"Fine. Do whatever you want, but I'll stay to supervise you. If you screw up, it will have consequences; and takes this as a warning." he stepped closer. Lim could literally feel his breath on her neck, he was that close to her. "No pressure." he added. Lim looked at him -Morgan thought she could kill him with her eyes- but got back to work right away. Her hands were a bit shaky but she tried really hard to control them. She took the fetus out of the uterus slowly. It was so tiny in her hands and its skin was still so thin they could see it's heartbeat through it. When Lim turned it, she could see it's gender. _"She's a girl."_

"Now, suction." Lim sighed as she tried to bring herself back to reality. A nurse handed her the tube, they set it on the lower sucking power. Her hands were shaking, she had never been this nervous from anything she had to do. After taking a deep breath, she opened the mouth of the tiny baby and slowly placed the tube inside. She could hear the gurgle from the water-blood mixture coming out of the baby's body. In that exact moment, Murphy arrived back just in time. "Perfect. I'm placing the fetus back in the womb, now Murphy you have to fill up the uterus with the water." Lim nodded and slowly put the baby back inside, Murphy stepped closer and with a tube he filled up the uterus. A nurse stepped closer and grabbed the head of the ultrasound machine and placed it on the woman's abdomen. They could hear the heartbeat getting stronger and faster after a few seconds. Lim sighed in relief. "Great job. Dr Reznick, close up the uterus wall and her abdomen please with Dr Murphy." Lim ordered them. She had to leave the OR as soon as possible.

"You were lucky this time, Dr Lim." Han turned to her. She quickly left to scrub out and so did Han. "But I'll mention this incident to Dr Andrews."

"Yeah? And what is your goal with that? Firing me? Good luck! But if you ever talk to me like this again, I'll sue you for harassment!" she muttered and left him behind. She had bad cramps in her stomach from anger. Han really did his homework on everyone's background and their weak points, or at least he found Lim's right away and opened up old scars with his words.  
Lim rushed to the dressing room -that was the closest chamber she could hide in- and closed herself in the bathroom. She almost collapsed so she sat down to the floor instead and leaned her back against the door. Her eyes teared up, she placed her hands on her lower abdomen and squeezed it. Her body hurt -she relived the pain of the miscarriage- and she completely broke inside.


	18. Chapter 18

Lim spent long minutes crying in silence all alone in the restroom, she just couldn't move or do anything else from pain, she could hardly breath and she felt a pressure in her chest too. Quick thoughts ran across her mind, pretty much everything miserable that she was hiding till then, against what she fought so hard. She knew that she is going to be fine in half an hour, she just had to release her feelings about the miscarriage, which she kept in for too long. Han's words really hurt her and caused her emotions to break to the surface. Still, as minutes passed by, she slowly collected her pieces from the floor and she finally stopped crying. She started to calm down after this quick breakdown and she could control her breathing too. She was strong enough to handle this; it was just too much for her all at once. She buried her face in her hands and took a deep breath. _"Okay, I'm fine. It's all right. It's not the end of the world..." _she tried to comfort herself. Her physical pain slowly left and she began to feel better. She was right, moreover, she didn't even need half an hour, it was only ten minutes of suffering quietly before she could stand up, dust her clothes and swipe away her leftover tears. She stepped closer to the sink and looked up to the mirror; she looked terrible. She washed her face, which helped a bit, fixed her hair and decided it was enough. She started to feel confident again, so after another deep sigh, she unlocked the restroom door and walked out. With a neutral face, she headed back to the ER where Shaun and Morgan were already busy with patients. Nobody said a word about the events in the OR, but all the residents could see that Lim was far from okay, although she was really good at denying that.

Melendez arrived to the hospital at around three p.m., long before his shift started, but Andrews asked him to come in earlier. Melendez could barely settle down when someone knocked on his door. It was Shaun.

"Dr Melendez, can I ask you something?" he asked without any proper greeting or anything, but Melendez nodded right away. He honestly thought it was some kind of professional question about a patient, but he was wrong. "If someone I like has a problem should I ask her to tell me because I'm worried or let her tell it by herself?" he asked. This question surprised Melendez pretty much, he raised his eyebrows.

"Is this about Lea?" Melendez asked back.

"Yes. I think she is not fine. She seemed sad this morning, but I didn't know if I should ask or not." Shaun nodded. Melendez wasn't even sure why Murphy is asking him about this since Dr Glassman was the one who helped Shaun in these kind of issues.

"And why do you think I can answer your question?" Melendez raised his eyebrow even higher.

" Would you ask Dr Lim about her problems or not? Dr Lim isn't fine either recently and you are friends just like me and Lea."

"Well..." Melendez started but stopped. He wasn't sure what Shaun was talking about since he didn't see any sign of Lim not being fine these days. "I guess I would." he shrugged his shoulder. Shaun simply nodded when he got his answer and left Melendez's office without saying anything in return. Melendez shook his head and sat down, but again, somebody knocked. It seemed like he won't have a peaceful minute before his shift starts. "Come in..." he sighed and jumped up as soon as Andrews walked in.

"Dr Melendez, I asked you to come in earlier so I have the opportunity to introduce you the new Chief of Surgery, Dr Jackson Han." Andrews smiled. As soon as Melendez looked at Han, he had a misgiving about him but he gave him his hand anyways to shook.

"Good afternoon, Sir. I'm Dr Neil Melendez, attending Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Nice to meet you." Han shook his hands smiling. As Melendez predicted, Han seemed to be a jackass already.

"Nice to meet you too, Dr Melendez. I've heard a lot about you from Dr Andrews. You are said to be one of the best surgeons in St. Bonaventure." Han smiled. "Dr Lim was claimed to be a best too, but as it turns out, she isn't tough enough to be a trauma surgeon." he sighed.

"What do you mean by that? I know Lim since our residency and she is truly a best, if not the best." Melendez stated. He started to put the pieces together; what Shaun said about Lim not being fine lately and Han complaining about her work now. Andrews just remained silent; despite that he always named Lim as one of his best surgeons, somehow he didn't want to argue with Han.

"She made a mistake and I had to take her under my supervision for a surgery. I told her, that had to be her last mistake." Han explained still with a -mostly evil- smile. Melendez just couldn't believe what Han just said; Lim doesn't make mistakes, ever.

"Well, I'm sure it was the first and last." Melendez nodded in order to give insurance about what he just said. He felt an urge to talk to Lim quickly.

"I hope so." Han agreed. "Alright. I believe you are busy so I won't disturb you any longer. Have a nice day."

"You too, sir." Melendez said and looked at Andrews as soon as Han turned around. His face told everything; he was silently asking 'WTF' but Andrews simply shrugged his should and left with Han.

Lim's shift ended at around the same time when Melendez's started, but he felt it important to send a text to Lim to come to his office ASAP. They had to discuss this and Lim knew that too. After changing clothes, she headed to Melendez's office. She didn't knock, just opened the door and closed it too right after entering, but she stopped there.

"What did he do to you?" Melendez asked immediately. He was upset already after what Han said about Lim. He wanted to protect her but he couldn't right there, against their new boss. Lim looked at him with a sad face. "He didn't fire you, did he?" he asked.

"No..." she whispered and shook her head. "But you were right, he is a jerk..." this made Melendez smile a little.

"And you didn't believe me. But what happened?" he asked again. Lim finally stepped closer and hugged him from all the sudden. "Oh boy, is it this bad?" Melendez tried to joke a little and it seemed affective. Lim smiled.

"Yeah, it's that bad I'm hugging you without a reason." she chuckled, but it was a sad laugh. "We should talk about this later, not in here." she sighed and let him go. Even this quick hug calmed her.

"Okay. But are you all right? Murphy told me that you didn't seem fine."

"No, I mean...I wasn't but I'm good now, don't worry. I'm over it. We'll talk about this later. You finish at ten p.m., right? Come over tonight, please." she whispered. " And be careful with that guy. He is really something..." she warned Melendez, then she realized what he just said about Murphy. "Wait. Did he come up to you to say that I'm in a bad shape?" she asked.

"Well, yeah. Not directly, but yeah, we can say he came here to tell me that." Melendez nodded. "Why? Do you think he knows about us?" he asked. Lim tilted her head.

"I hope he doesn't. We have to be careful with him."

Melendez's phone interrupted their chat with a buzz. "I'm sorry. I have to go. See you tonight, okay?" he smiled. "Oh, here are your keys." he dug into his pocket and took the keys out.

Lim watched him leave then she walked out of the office too, closed the door behind.


	19. Chapter 19

During whatever Melendez did that day, he always kept his eyes open, he was extremely cautious with Han, but fortunately, the new boss left the hospital pretty soon as his shift ended, so Melendez, Browne and Park could take a breath and relax. They had several surgeries that night despite that is was only a six hours shift. Some more and some less complicated but they managed everything with a success. At the end of the day, after ten p.m., Melendez scrubbed out, changed his clothes in the dressing room and left the hospital as soon as he could. He headed to Lim right away who was home since her shift ended, basically just waiting for Melendez and trying to stay awake until he arrives. Melendez was sure tired and so was Lim, but they promised to talk about the incident with Han that night and they wanted to keep they word.

"Hey." Lim smiled at Melendez as she opened the door for him. It was a relief to see him after a long day. Melendez stepped in and greeted her with a quick kiss.

"Give me something to eat please, I'm starving..." he sighed and sat down at the table.

"Yes sir." Lim chuckled and placed a plate with already prepared, nice, hot meal. "Bon appetite." she smiled at sat down next to him. "How was your evening?" she asked.

"Wow, thank you!" he smiled at her gratefully and started eating. "It was busy, but okay. Han left early so I didn't have to deal with him. Unlike you." he looked up at her. "Would you like to tell me now what that was between you and Han?" he asked politely. Lim just sighed and nodded. She had to collect her thoughts first.

"Well, I was in the OR with Shaun and Morgan. Pregnant woman, six months, abdominal hemorrhage. She almost bled out but Shaun found the source so I let him deal with that while I was checking on the fetus. Then Han appeared and told me not to let Shaun doing this..." she told every detail of the incident to Melendez and finished up like this: "What hurt the most was that he brought up my miscarriage and broke me completely inside. He found my weakest point." she admitted quietly at the end while staring at the table. Melendez quickly ate the food he was given so he can focus on Lim. "He even threatened me with firing me if I make another mistake." she added. Melendez stood up, put his plate away and stepped to Lim. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the chair.

"You know that he is a fool. First of all, he didn't have any right to bring up your miscarriage and associate it with this case. Second, you didn't make a mistake and he can't fire the best trauma surgeon from the hospital, Andrews wouldn't let me, don't worry." Melendez tried to comfort her with his calm voice. "You are a badass woman, you can show him that you don't deserve to be treated this way." he smiled.

"I know I could but somehow I couldn't do anything against him today. I just...basically fell apart." she sighed. Melendez put his arms around her and Lim nestled to him. "He broke me like nobody ever could." she whispered.

"You can't hide your feelings all the time, Audrey. you can't deny that you have any. You are tough but you can have a hard time too." he said.

"You won't help me with telling me this all over again every time, Neil." Lim shook her head and moved away from him. "You are the only one I've ever talked about anything like this, okay? Because I trust you, but don't piss me off with this bullshit because I'll keep everything to myself!"

"Okay, okay, sorry." he apologized. "Do you wanna go sit down and talk about it or I just ruined the moment?" he asked.

"I want to go to bed. I'm tired, I'm up since half past six." Lim sighed and slowly headed to the bedroom. Melendez felt pretty bad about what he said, but he remained quite this time. Lim put on a huge t-shirt as pajamas and crawled to bed while Melendez just got rid of all his clothes except his undershorts and laid next to Lim.

"This t-shirt is familiar for me...Isn't this...?" he asked.

"Yes, it's yours. You gave it to me probably ten years ago after I won a bet and this was my price since I liked the pattern." Lim smiled. Melendez chuckled a little.

"You kept this for ten years? Are you serious?"

"Of course I did. I still love it. It's comfortable." she admitted. "Although I wasn't wearing it when I was with Kashal. But I still kept it." she smiled at him. "Hey, listen. I'm sorry about that. It's really hard for me to open up but I'm trying, okay?" she sighed. Melendez rolled to her side and leaned to her.

"I know, you don't have to be sorry. I screwed up. Or I should say, Han did and I must tell you, he will regret that." he said and sighed a brief kiss on her lips.

"What are you planning to do?" Lim asked.

"Well..." Melendez smiled playfully.

"I meant with him, asshat." Lim laughed but put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer for another kiss.

They didn't have to work the next day so neither of them woke up early; after making love they were still chatting about little things until late night when they both fell asleep. Lim woke up first but she waited for Melendez to wake up too before doing anything. They planned to spend the day together and that's what they eventually did. They were both stressed beforehand, which effected them staying in bed and having sex multiple times a day since that was their favorite activity nowadays. In the breaks some interesting topics came up between them.

"What should we do if Shaun spills our tea and reveals our relationship?" Melendez asked.

"I guess we have to reveal us then. We can't deny it forever." Lim looked at him.

"True, but we didn't want to open up about us to the colleagues yet." Melendez stated.

"True. On the other hand...would you mind it?"

"No, it's not that. But we just started seeing each other on a regular basis, it's mostly just sex yet between us. I love it this way, don't get me wrong!"

"Yeah, I can see that." Lim laughed. "But I agree. I wouldn't reveal it either unless it's really a must." she nodded.

They stayed true to their agreement on keeping their relationship in secret for two more weeks. During that time, Han was still breathing in Lim's neck all the time, he also was supervising Shaun a lot, which was really unpleasant for both of them but they didn't get any complaints -yet. Everyone was scared of Han and they all tried to be well behaved in front of him. They'd learnt the lesson from Lim being threatened with losing her job; nobody wanted to get involved in an argument with Han.  
Despite Lim and Melendez trying so hard to hide their relationship from Shaun, he could slowly put the pieces together. They couldn't outplay his superpowers. Fortunately, Shaun was smart and polite enough not to spill everything right away, he wanted to talk to the couple first.

"Hey." Lim knocked in to Melendez's office. "Shaun wants to talk to us. Something urgent, he says. Can you come? He is waiting in my office." she said.

"Sure. Is everything okay?" Melendez raised his eyebrow.

"I don't know. He didn't want to leave my office because he was scared of telling anyone anything inappropriate, so I think you can figure it out by now." she sighed.

"Do you think he knows?" Melendez whispered, Lim just nodded as an answer. "Smart kid..." he shook his head. As they arrived to Lim's office, Shaun stood of from the couch and looked at them.

"There is something I want to tell you both for a really long time but I didn't know if it was appropriate or not, so I asked Lea and she said I should talk to you." Shaun started with his monotone, but still a little upset voice. Lim and Melendez could indeed hear from his voice that he kept it in for a really long time. "You are having sex!" he stated and sighed with relief after. "Yes, I could finally say that. You two are having..." he almost repeated himself, even louder this time, but Lim interrupted.

"Yes, Shaun, we do, but please stay quiet! Nobody knows yet, except you." she said on a calm voice and looked at Melendez. He scrubbed his head and sighed a bit. It was hard for him to admit it, he felt it really awkward to talk about with his resident. "Please keep this a secret until we reveal it, okay?" Lim tilted her head. They both know that this would be a really hard task for Shaun but they trusted him; he could keep it a secret until now, maybe he can after too.

"All right, I can try." he nodded in understanding.

"Thank you, Shaun." Lim smiled. "You can go now." she released him. As they remained alone with Melendez, Lim could really see Melendez being worried. "We knew this would happen in only a matter of time." she said.

"I know. It's been what...a month, since we are together? I think it's time to come out." Melendez stated.

"It's been almost five weeks though." she smiled.

"Best five weeks of my life, Audrey. I really don't want it to end." he shook his head and stepped to Lim, put his arms around her and pulled her close to a warm hug.


	20. Chapter 20

"Okay, we are still not official yet, so we should go back to work. Also, we should talk to Andrews on the first place." Lim said and let him go.

"Agreed. Later today, is that good for you? We can come up to him at the end of our shifts." Melendez suggested.

"Sure." Lim nodded.

"Great. See ya then." Melendez smiled at her and left her office. They still had to seem average.

Shaun was in the line to the buffet in the cafeteria desperately waiting to buy his pancakes finally when Han appeared next to him.

"Good morning, Dr Murphy." he greeted Shaun.

"Good morning. I'm waiting to get my pancakes." Shaun informed Han although he wasn't interested at all.

"Can we talk in my office please?"

"I'm waiting for my pancakes." Shaun repeated himself.

"It's important. Follow me to my office. Now!" Han ordered and walked out in the direction of his office. Shaun couldn't do anything but to follow him as he didn't want to get into an argument. He sat down to a chair across of Han and stared at the window. "Dr Murphy, I want you to know that I'm not against two people loving each other, but I can't support two surgeons, working in my team to have a secret relationship. It can lead to very big troubles that can affect their work and a patient may pay the prize for that. Do you understand me?" Han asked. Shaun was just staring at nothing while his mind was fully working on an answer.

"No. I'm not in a relationship with any other surgeons." Murphy stated finally. "So I don't understand why you are telling this to me." he shook his head.

"I didn't mean you." Han laughed. "I know that you had a theory about Dr Lim's secret lover after her miscarriage. Does that theory still stand? Maybe you know the identity by now?"

"I...don't know who is Dr Lim's boyfriend, Dr Han. You have to ask her." Shaun said. He seemed to panic a little bit; he really wanted to keep their relationship in secret but he was under too much pressure.

"All right." Han nodded. "I believe you, Shaun, but let me give you a hint. It's not advisable to lie to your boss." he said. "If there is nothing you can say, you are dismissed."

"Dr Lim asked me to keep her secret. I'm not lying, I'm keeping my promise." Shaun tried to convince Han -and maybe himself too- about that he is not lying because he is dishonest, although it was really hard for him. He was always honest; it was part of his condition.

"Oh, I understand. Well, Shaun, it's really nice from you to support your superior like this, but I'm still your boss. Both of yours." Han rose his eyebrows. "And as a boss, I've been thinking about you in this past two weeks. I could notice something; your communication skills are not the best and it's inconvenient since you have to be in daily touch with patients. But you know what? I have the best solution for that." Han smiled. "I talked to the Chief of Pathology and he would be happy to have you in his team. It will be the perfect job for you."

"I'm a surgical resident, Dr Han, not a pathologist. I'm going to be a surgeon." Shaun stated it as a fact but it seemed like Han was determined about his decision.

"No, Shaun. You work at the pathology from tomorrow. Your shift starts at eight a.m."

"Are you punishing me for something?" Shaun asked simply.

"I'm not punishing you, I want you the best." Han smiled. He walked to his door, opened it for Shaun. "If you know anything about Dr Lim, you can come to me any time with trust." he said and waited for Shaun to leave. "Have a nice day, Dr Murphy."  
Shaun understood that Han wants him to leave so he stood up and walked out hesitantly. Han knew that Shaun will be back with the information he wanted to hear in order to keep his job.  
Murphy arrived back to the ER where Lim and Morgan were dealing with patients. Despite them being busy, he couldn't keep the news for himself.

"Dr Han reassigned me to the pathology. I'm not a surgical resident anymore." he stepped behind their backs and made this announcement with sadness. The two women looked at him immediately.

"What? He moved you to the pathology? Why? How?" Lim asked, she was sure confused by this. Shaun didn't answer. "Murphy? Will you tell us?"

"I can't because I would say things that I shouldn't because I promised that I'll keep it in secret." Shaun explained, but it was enough for Lim, she completely understood Han's reasons. "Although he said it's because I'm not good at communicating with people, but I think it's not the real reason..." he shook his head. Lim sighed and stopped at what she was doing.

"I'll talk to him. You will get your job back, don't worry." she smiled at him with a reassuring look. "And thank you." she nodded and then disappeared. She was at Melendez's office in just a second; she was literally rushing through the hospital; she even took the stairs instead of the elevator because she believed she would be faster that way. Fortunately, Melendez was in his office when Lim stepped in heaving. Melendez just raised his eyebrows and looked at her.

"Audrey? Is everything okay?" he asked. Lim shook her head and tried to catch her breath. "Okay, take a deep breath and tell me because I'm confused."

"Han is a jerk." she said quickly while her breath lasted. "He moved Shaun to the pathology because he know that he knows who you are." she tried to explain fast.

"Okay, I don't understand a word, try again please. Why would Han move Shaun because he knows me? I don't get it, Audrey..." he shook his head.

"Dammit, Neil! Shaun knows about us. He knows that you are my 'secret lover' as they call it. Shaun kept our secret from Han and now Han moved Shaun to the pathology in revenge!" Lim explained again, but angrier since Melendez pissed her with not understanding for the first time.

"Are you serious?" he widened his eyes but Lim just gave him a mad face and he know right away. "What are we going to do now?"

"I think we have to reschedule our day and talk to Andrews ASAP. I hate the feeling that Shaun might lose his job because of our stupid secret."

Melendez sighed and scrubbed his face. "All right. I'm good to go now if you are free too." he sighed, although he still wasn't quite ready to reveal their relationship. He really enjoyed their private, secret life.

"Yeah, let's come out of our shell." Lim nodded. They headed to Andrews' office, side by side. Lim almost grabbed Melendez's hand to find some sort of comfort; sure, she was nervous mostly because she wasn't ready either. The idea of being an official couple scared her. When they arrived to the door, they looked at each other, nodded in insurance and finally Melendez was to one to knock in.

"Come in!" they heard Andrews calling so Melendez opened the door and let Lim go in first. "Dr Lim, Dr Melendez, what can I help you?" he looked up from his work at the desk.

"We should talk about something. It's...important for us." Lim said and looked at Melendez.

"Sure, have a seat. Go ahead." Andrews smiled. He looked pretty curious which surprised them. Lim nodded at Melendez meaning she'll start then.

"Okay, so I won't get into the whole story how it all happened, the point is that we are seeing each other, with Melendez." She said hesitantly. It was hard for Lim to say out loud and she didn't feel any relief after telling this to Andrews.

"Oh, wow. How long?" Andrews asked back after this surprise.

"Well, let's say it started two and a half months ago." Melendez answered this time. He perfectly remembered the date of their first time; everything changed after that.

"That's a long time. So...your miscarriage...?" Andrews asked politely without finishing the question.

"Yes, it was his." Lim nodded and sighed.

"Okay, sorry for being inappropriate. Well, I don't know what to say." Andrews shrugged his shoulder. "You know it would be best to discuss this with the board but I see nothing against your relationship." he smiled.

"Yeah, about that...there is something more." Lim started. "Murphy knows about us, he could figure it out sometimes, but we asked him to keep it a secret until we reveal ourselves. He came to me a few minutes ago and told me that Dr Han moved him to the pathology. I'm afraid it's because he didn't tell Han what he wanted to hear about us." Lim explained. Andrews didn't seem surprised this time.

"I know. Believe me, this is not his only reason to move Murphy from the surgery. I tried to talk to him about this but he is completely biased against Murphy. He thinks that his autism is a handicap with what he can't be a surgeon. Unfortunately, I don't have a word in his decision." Andrews shook his head.

"So he would move him anyways? He just uses us as an excuse? Great..." Lim grumbled. "Poor kid..."

Lim and Melendez came to a conclusion with Andrews about that they can't do anything besides revealing their relationship to Han too, so their next stop was at Han's office.

"We are doing this together, right?" Lim looked up at Melendez. He was scared of Han since his first day, she knew what he was capable of; he was great at breaking people with simple words.

"Of course." Melendez nodded and grabbed Lim's hand before knocking on Han's door.


	21. Chapter 21

"Come in!" Han answered, so Melendez opened the door and they walked in, their hands still briefly touching. "What can I do for you?" he asked and glanced at their hands.

"I've heard that you were interested in 'Dr Lim's secret lover'." Melendez started. Lim was way too anxious to say a word; she let him talk.

"Indeed." Han raised his eyebrows.

"You can stop threatening Dr Murphy. I'll tell you; it's me." Melendez announced. Han didn't seem stricken at all in particular after seeing Melendez holding Lim's hand, but they could easily tell; he wasn't pleased.

"I'm assuming you'd talked to Dr Murphy. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not moving him because of his loyalty towards you." he shook his head. "But enough of him, I'm your boss, when did you want to tell me about your relationship?" he asked.

"Not yet, since it's none of your business." said Lim with fury. "We wouldn't have told you now either, but I can't let my resident to be moved in belief of his loyalty being the reason." she continued; she wanted to talk about Shaun on the first place despite Han's will. "He is the best resident I had in my carreer and in spite of his condition he tries really hard every day. I've known him for almost two years now and let me tell, he has come a long way. Give him a chance."

"Dr Lim, it's not a question anymore, he is going to be working at the pathology from tomorrow. That's my decision. The reason is that he has autism and I don't want him to get in touch with patients. I would never fire him, 'cause I know he is a precious member of the hospital. He has special skills, but I'm convinced that moving him to the pathology is the best I can do for him." Han explained.

"But..." Lim opened her mouth to object, but Han lifted his hand in order to shut her up.

"I'm not done yet, Dr Lim." Han looked at her. "About what you said earlier...It is my business since I'm your boss. I don't support your relationship. It's unprofessional."

"What?! There is no rule against us. We are at the same status, none of us is the other's boss, so technically you can't forbid us to be together!" Melendez vetoed.

"No, you are not each other's bosses, but I'm yours. I make the rules here. I will talk in front of the board and I will convince them about your love affair being a bad idea."

"Sure you will." Lim rolled her eyes. "So what can you do? Will you try to convince us too to break up? Because that won't work." she shook her head.

"I'll have to fire one of you then." Han said without even trying to hide his indifference in his voice. He could see both of them firing up. "It would be probably you, Dr Lim. You have to admit; Dr Melendez is a better surgeon." he shrugged his shoulder. Lim was ready to jump on him and punch him in the face but Melendez grabbed her arms and hold her back.

"Audrey, chill." Melendez whispered. "Be smart. This was enough, let's go!" he looked in Han's eyes; he could kill him with his look but he had to behave. Lim pulled her arms out of Melendez's hands and rushed out of the office. Fortunately, nobody was in the hallway in front of Han's office to hear Lim swearing.

"Fuck, I can't believe what he just said! If you weren't there I would have beaten him up!" Lim grumbled.

"Calm down, Audrey..."

"Really? You tell me to calm down? " she slapped him in the chest. "I am the one about to lose my job, not you, Mr 'Better Surgeon'!" Lim yelled at him. Melendez didn't pick it up; he knew it was only her anger to speak -and act- for her.

"Don't give him a reason to actually fire you! He has to talk to the board and I'm positive they won't agree with him." he still remained calm somehow. Lim hesitantly nodded and took a deep breath. She needed a few seconds to cool off.

"You're right." she sighed. "I'm sorry for hitting you. You didn't let me punch him so I slapped you instead..." she chuckled.

"Never mind, you are not that strong to hurt me." Melendez shook his head and started laughing, but Lim just rolled her eyes. "Are we official yet?" he asked.

"I guess so." Lim shrugged her shoulder. This was the approval for Melendez; he stepped closer, laid one of his hands on Lim's face, grabbed her waist with the other and kissed her on the lips without hesitation. Lim returned the kiss with a smile then looked in his eyes. "You desired to kiss me where and whenever you want, didn't you?" she laughed.

"You caught me." he laughed as well. "I won't jump on you every time we meet though. I can behave." he nodded with a smile.

"Great." Lim stole one more quick kiss. "Thank you for being there for me." she tilted her head.

"Of course." Melendez smiled but his phone buzzed in his pocket. "Crap, I totally forgot I'm still working." he moaned, let her go and answered the phone. "Yeah, I'll be right there. Lim? Yeah, she is here with me actually." he looked up at her and gestured with his hand to follow him. Melendez hung up and turned in the direction of the ER. "There is a bus crash coming in. Several injured, at least five serious." he informed her on their way.

"Great, so we will have some extra hours today." she sighed.

As they expected, dealing with the bus crash patients took four extra hours after their shifts ended and they both were in separate OR's for most of the time.  
Melendez wrapped his last surgery before Lim, so he decided to wait for her. There was something for him to deal with anyways, so he made advantage of his free time.  
When she came out of the OR, scrubbed out, changed her clothes and went to find Melendez right away. She just wanted to go home finally. Fortunately, she found him in his office, waiting for her. although he was actually busy with something on his computer, he looked up at Lim and closed his laptop immediately.

"Shall we go?" he asked. Lim seemed pretty devastated. "You ok?" he stood up, grabbed his jacket.

"I lost him." Lim sighed. "But it happens. Part of the job..." she mumbled. "Yeah, we can go home." she nodded eventually.

"I'm sorry. It was a pretty crap day then, wasn't it?"

"I swear the best part is that I can leave now with you and have some good sex at home." she shook her head and headed out of the office. Melendez couldn't help laughing.

"I like your plans." he agreed. While driving home then later that night there was something on Melendez's mind that didn't let him rest. He could only forget about it for that sweet hour, which they spent together in bed before falling asleep. Making love with Lim made everything better all the time, even after a rough day like this one. He felt incredibly lucky to have her as his better half and as their relationship progressed his feelings towards her only deepened. However, a new day started as the sun rose the next morning and Melendez was sure; this day is going to be just as rough as the previous one, at least for him.

This time it was Lim's opportunity to sleep longer, Melendez had to go to work early in the morning. She didn't even wake up; he was so quiet but he gave her a small kiss on her cheeks before leaving. He had some time thinking about the decision he was about to make while being stuck in the traffic. He knew he is going to regret it at some point, but he felt it was the right step to take in order to save their relationship.  
Right after arriving to the hospital he sat down to his desk in his office and opened up his laptop. The document he was working on last evening was still opened. He quickly read through it and continued writing without any hesitation. He wanted to finish it, print it out and hand it to Andrews before his shift started.

"Good morning, Sir." he sneaked in to Andrews' office after knocking in. "Can we talk?"

"Sure, quickly. My meeting with the board starts in ten minutes. We are going to be discussing your relationship...with our special guest today, Dr Han." Andrews sighed. "I am looking forward to it..." he rolled his eyes, Melendez could totally feel Andrews' pain.

"Yes, in fact I want to talk to you about that." Melendez closed the door behind himself. Andrews noticed that he was holding a brief in his right hand.

"Is that...?" asked Andrews. He would have never had expected to see this turn from Melendez.

"Indeed." Melendez nodded. "Let me explain. I don't know whether you are aware of Han's plans or not, but in a nutshell, he wants to fire Lim because of our relationship." he started.

"I'm aware, unfortunately. I know he'll try to convince the board but I won't let it happen." Andrews stated.

"We are very thankful for that, but he is way too good of a demagogue I'm afraid and I feel like he can do whatever he wants in this hospital. I want to avert anyone being fired, let it be Lim or Murphy. In spite of Han's theory, Lim and Murphy both deserve to work here as surgeons still they are both in a situation where they can lose their jobs. Unlike me." Melendez said but stopped here for a moment before he could continue. "I want you to take my resignation letter. I'm ready to quit my job in order to save my relationship with Audrey and for their jobs sake. There is nothing to discuss with the board this way. Lim is not in a relationship with any other surgeons of St. Bonaventure anymore so Han has no reason to fire her. And Murphy...maybe he has to work at the pathology for a short amount of time but I'm sure he will get back his residency as a surgeon." he said and released a sigh after his monologue. Although this decision was hard for him to make, he knew that this is what he wants to do right after the conversation with Han.

"You sure about this?" Andrews asked for reassurance.

"Positive. If I have to do this to save our relationship with Audrey, I'll do it. I don't want to lose her..." said Melendez quietly._ "I love_ _her_._" _he added to himself.


	22. Chapter 22

"Good morning everyone!" Andrews greeted the board -and Han- when he arrived to the conference room. "I don't want to waste your time, I'd get to the topic immediately." he started but Han stood up to talk.

"Let me introduce you the issue since I was the one who initiated this meeting." Han suggested, Andrews sat down and nodded. "Thank you. So as you might have heard about it by now, Drs Lim and Melendez were in a secret relationship for two months before they were kind enough to tell us, their bosses about it yesterday. Now, I know that there are no rules against two employees at the same level to be together, but let me explain why I don't think it's a good idea." he paused, looked around at the faces of the board members. "I'm not against love, I'm trying to raise St Bonaventure to the highest level possible to be one of the best hospitals in the country, if not the best. To achieve that, we can't let things to slip through our fingers and cause potential harm for our ratings."

"You are saying that their relationship, which has been working well for two months is a potential source of harm?" Aoki interrupted with her question.

"Partly. Most hospitals prohibit love relationship among employees and in my experience, it works really well. It's really important for doctors to stay focused all day until their shifts end, especially for surgeons. Nobody wants to go under surgery performed by two doctors who can't stop thinking about each other. Dr Lim and Dr Melendez has to work together, they have to save lives every day, which requires their full attention. The risk of making a mistake during a surgery is higher amongst employees who are working with their love interests, that's a fact. Moreover, smooching instead of dealing with patients is inefficient and unacceptable." Han tried really hard to bring up pretty good points against the couple.

"So what's your suggestion?" Andrews asked.

"We have to include this new rule into the hospital's policy." Han answered.

"And what about Dr Lim and Dr Melendez?" Aoki asked.

"They are adults; they have to understand that we had to make this decision in order to maintain our great prestige." Han nodded.

"You can't ask them to break up, that's their personal decision, which is none of your business." Aoki objected.

"Then I'll have to fire Dr Lim." Han stated, Aoki was about to open her mouth again but Andrews stood up first.

"I think we should first vote about Dr Han's new rule suggestion. We can discuss this after we decided." he said. "So again. Dr Han wants to include a rule, which prohibits relationships between employees of St Bonaventure. Raise your hand if you are for!" he spoke up and looked around. Three out of ten board members and Han raised their hands. "If you are against!" Andrews called again. Five out of ten including Andrews raised their hands. "And then if you abstain." The rest two put their hands in the air. "I think it's obvious then. Dr Han, the board rejected your suggestion. And just for your interest, Dr Melendez handed me his resignation letter this morning; he was sure you will want to fire Lim because of your screwed up, discriminative ideas. Now you don't have any reason to fire her." Andrews watched Han's face during his speech; he seemed really disappointed and mad for the decision. "I also resent the idea of Dr Murphy being moved to the pathology. He fought to be a surgical resident, he deserves to be a surgeon."

"I only did what's best for the hospital. You would be making a mistake with moving him back. His skills are not good enough to be a surgeon, you know that!" Han argued.

"I know that he tries really hard. He is a talented surgeon and he is a genius." Andrews said.

"You are questioning every point of mine. Why did you make me Chief of Surgery if you refuse my decisions? I'm trying to be the leader of the surgical team and doing everything for the hospital's sake but you make it impossible for me." Han objected. "I want to make changes but you are stuck with the old rules and the old people."

"I don't know why I offered you the job; you are clearly the worst person I could find to this title. Getting rid of three of my best surgeons it NOT what's best for the hospital. If you want me to choose between my surgeons and you, I will have to fire you." Andrews stated. "I'll move Murphy back to the surgery and I'll tell Dr Melendez that he doesn't have to quit his job. This is my decision." he nodded, he could see the total devastation on Han's face. "You didn't expect it, did ya?" Andrews smiled.  
"The meeting is wrapped. Thank you for everyone." he said and the board members left the conference room one by one. "Dr Han, may I talk to you for one more second?" Andrews stopped him before leaving.

"What else do you want to say?" Han rolled his eyes.

"You may think that you can achieve everything with blackmailing, threatening and discrimination, but you are completely wrong. And watch out because you may find yourself sued sooner or later." Andrews winked at him and left the room, Han just remained there alone, under shock.

Lim started her shift later that day. She had her first coffee in the lounge of the breakroom in the ER before she had to deal with anyone. She was just chilling and wondering about what the outcome of the board meeting might be when Melendez opened the door.

"Hey. What are you doing here? I thought your shift is over." she said.

"Yeah, it is, I just wanted to talk to you about something." he sat down across of her and reached for her hand.

"Oh no. Is it about the board meeting, isn't it? Please don't tell me we have to break up..." Lim shook her head. She was indeed scared of this since yesterday.

"I don't know the results yet, but..." Melendez started when someone opened the door again. It was Han.

"Oh, how cute..." Han said quietly with sarcasm. "It's good to see you both here. Are you celebrating?" he asked but realized from their expressions that they don't really understand. "Wow, you don't even know. Well, then congratulations. You can both keep your jobs, Andrews fired me." he announced. Lim looked at Melendez with a surprised face.

"I'm so sorry, Dr Han. I honestly didn't wish you to lose your job." Melendez stood up from his chair. He was indeed sorry yet a little bit happy and grateful too.

"You don't have to pretend that you are sorry. Also, let me tell you, Dr Melendez, nobody likes martyrs. But I have to admit, your move was effective." Han nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Lim asked. She didn't understand a word Han said.

"Nothing." Melendez turned back to her and shook his head.

"You can reveal that you quit your job to save hers. She will like it." Han said.

"You did what?!" Lim widened her eyes.

"Nothing!" Melendez answered louder this time.

"Why are you denying your generosity?" Han tilted his head. Melendez was about to tell Lim that he quit his job and to admit his reasons when Han interrupted and now him being a jerk pissed Melendez off too much, he couldn't behave.

"It's none of your damn business, do you understand?'" Melendez stepped to Han and grabbed his shirt. His hatred of Han festered since he first quipped at Lim and it seemed to break the surface.

"I'm not your boss anymore but I can still call the security at you..." Han smiled, which made Melendez push him to the wall.

"Don't do this, Neil!" Lim jumped up and rushed there to stop Melendez.

"I'll just give him a reason to call the fucking security. It doesn't matter anyways..." he grumbled, lifted his fist and punched Han in the face. Lim arrived to hold Melendez back from another punch.

"Are you crazy?!" she yelled at him and pushed him out of the way. Han's nose was heavily bleeding so Lim held a napkin to his face. "Neil, go home before they arrest you...asshat." she shook her head.

"Are you on his side now?" Melendez asked furiously.

"No, but you broke his nose! When did you become so violent?" Lim looked at him seriously. "Leave!" she ordered and Melendez did what she said. He avoided eye contacts with his colleagues while heading to the entrance and leaving the hospital.  
"Are you okay?" Lim asked Han. "We should go outside and treat your nose." she suggested. "Not because I care about you but because I'm covering the ER today..." she clarified.

Melendez drove home, fast -and furiously- but without breaking any speed limits. His anger didn't fly away easily, he needed a beer at home to calm down and relax a little bit. His sadness surpassed the satisfaction after punching Han; Lim's reaction for finding out that he quit his job for her disappointed him. He couldn't even tell her properly why he did it and after Han appeared in the room, Lim could only see him getting angry and violent, which is really rare behavior from him. He wanted to fix things between him and Lim but he didn't have the opportunity since Lim was in an afternoon shift that ends at midnight. He had a quick shower, crawled to bed at around nine p.m. and turned on the TV in hope for a boring movie to fall asleep while watching it.

Lim -after convincing Han not to sue Melendez since they would have more reason to sue him- wrapped her shift shortly after midnight. She almost fell asleep in the uber, she yawned every other seconds and scrubbed her face to stay awake. When arriving to her condo she payed to the driver and got off the uber. Before walking to the door she noticed a familiar car parking in front of the house, then she noticed it's owner sitting on the stairs of her porch.

"Have long have you been waiting for me?" she asked.

"Fifteen minutes probably, I don't know." Melendez shrugged his shoulders. "I couldn't sleep." he stood up, Lim walked closer slowly. "I would like to explain everything. Can we go in? It's getting pretty chilly out here..."

"Sure." she sighed and opened the door with her keys. "You broke his nose by the way. It took half an hour to stop the bleeding. Congratulations." she said with big amount of sarcasm in her voice. "I hate him too but this was too much, you crossed a line." she shook her head. She dropped her jacket on the couch, kicked down her shoes and so did Melendez.

"I know. I'm sorry. You know that I'm not violent, it was just...I wanted to tell to you something important but he interrupted and quipped at us and it pissed me off. Oh and just for the record, I think my finger is fractured, but it doesn't matter now. I want to talk to you finally." Melendez explained.

"Make an x-ray tomorrow if you think his big face broke a bone in your hand." she smiled. "Look, I'm not mad at you...but I had a rough day...again." she rolled her eyes and headed to the bedroom.

"Audrey, please listen to me. About what Han said...I did give my resignation letter to Andrews to save your job. I thought if Han wins at the board meeting and they accept his stupid rule...I didn't want you to be fired and I didn't want to break up with you either. That's why I decided to quit."

Lim stopped in the bedroom and slowly turned to Melendez. "You sacrificed your job for me?" she asked quietly. Melendez nodded. "No you didn't..." she shook her head; she couldn't believe. She grabbed Melendez's hands and pulled him closer for a kiss and hugged him after.

"Yes I did. I was scared of losing you." he whispered but stopped for a few seconds. He finally felt ready to say the next words. "I love you, Audrey." he confessed. Lim looked up at him suddenly and raised her eyebrows. "You heard it..." he chuckled.

"I can't believe you…" she shook her head laughing. "I love you too, asshat." she smiled finally and kissed his lips.


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer! Mature content below!**

"It's pretty late, you know..." Lim said between two kisses. "It has been a really long day."

Melendez couldn't let go of her, his hands rested on Lim's waist. "I know." he nodded. "But Han was right, we should celebrate. He won't encumber our lives anymore." he smiled and leaned for a kiss again. "Please. Just a quick round. I know you want it too." he whispered with a playful smile on his face. His hands slowly slid down to Lim's butt but she just rolled her eyes.

"You know I can't resist sex with you. You are just too good..." she sighed with delight from the simply memory of their times being together. Melendez knew; this was her approval.

"You won't regret it, I promise..." he grinned and grabbed her bums.

"Stop talking and kiss me!" Lim chuckled but Melendez's lips shut her up -finally. Their tongues danced around in their mouths in perfect sync and harmony. He pulled up the dark blue blouse that she was wearing and pulled it through her head to get rid of it. His hands slowly slid down again on Lim's back searching for her bra's straps; one quick movement with his fingers and her bra was out of the way too. He grabbed her boob with one hand and gently circled around her nipple with his thumb. While unbuttoning his shirt, she slowly took one step after another back until her legs finally bumped into the bed; Melendez followed her then pushed her back. He quickly threw away his shirt revealing his muscular torso and the deer tattoo that Lim loved so much. He glanced at her beautiful, flat abdomen and generally fit body, he could already feel the touch of her smooth skin.

"You are not on sightseeing! Come on, Neil, let's move it!" Lim commanded, but decided to take the lead; she sat up and grabbed his belt to pull him closer. She unfastened it, zipped down his jeans and pulled them down gently alongside with his pants. He sighed from relief; it was pretty tight inside his boxer already. She placed her hand on him and started making magic in terms of turning him on. A few movements could drive him totally crazy; she was aware of those and could use them in the best way to nearly push him to the edge of orgasm. She felt him stiffening and warming up from the teasing, heard him moaning from pleasure so she kissed his abdomen, slowly sliding down to his sensitive part. His moans got louder; he loved it, but Lim stopped after a while and laid back; she waited for him to spoil her this time. He kicked down his jeans and pants and crawled on top of her, kissed her lips, then her neck and moved his way down through her collarbone to her breast. It was his turn, he stroked her side and belly before finally moving his hand to her jeans to unbutton them. As he slid down, he pulled her jeans and underwear down her legs then dropped them on the floor. He glanced at her one more time, but got back to action before Lim quipped at him again. He gently opened her legs and tried to return the favor with his fingers while kissing her. Her moans keyed him up even more and assured him about that he was indeed causing high level of satisfaction to her.

"I want to feel you inside me, Neil!" she whispered. Just as she said, it was enough of foreplay for him too; he widened her legs and finally entered her slowly. Both of them moaned from pleasure as they melted to one. She reached for his lips as he started moving inside her, embraced him, stroked his back with her nails making briefly visible red streaks in his skin. He kissed her cheeks and then her neck to increase the amount of her enjoyment, stroked her side then grabbed her boob again with one hand. Their body, mind and heart blended together, they lived and moved as one during these minutes. They felt free like birds, floating on clouds, but it was only them. They got lost, nothing else existed besides them. They could hear or feel their environment, their heartbeat, each other's breathing and their moans were the only sounds that made it to their ears.

"I love you so much..." he whispered in her neck and continued spoiling her with kisses.

"I love you too." she moaned and bit her lower lip to hold back her voice. She pushed him away and he immediately understood what she wants; he rolled to his back and she crawled on top of him this time. She sat on him and started moving again. She was always best at being on top and Melendez had to admit; it was his favorite position too. He could place his hands on her hips and just watch her while riding him. His heart was heavily beating but not just because of the action; it was beating for Lim. He never felt anything like what he felt right now; his love towards Lim was indescribable. He sat up, placed his hands on her face and dragged her closer for a kiss. Lim didn't stop moving; she was still dancing in his lap, which drove him crazy. He stroked down on her back and started kissing her neck again to turn her on even more. Her moans showed him that she is very close to having an orgasm and he was on the edge too. Before finishing, he rolled her over once again without even pulling out and lifted her legs to his shoulder. He leaned forward, kissed her and didn't let her lips go until his moan of pleasure broke the surface as he came. She needed few more seconds, but eventually she climaxed too. The orgasm shook her whole body and a warm feeling spread all over her. Melendez slowed down in her as they calmed a bit and kissed her again before rolling to his side.

"This was amazing..." Lim whispered as she tried to catch her breath. "I will never get bored of it." she chuckled and looked over at him.

"That's a good thing, because if you don't plan to change your partner you are probably stuck with me." Melendez grinned at her. "Or at least you won't be able to get rid of me for a while." he teased.

"I wouldn't mind that. I love being around you and oh boy, having sex with you is how I want to spend my free time forever!" she laughed.

"I have to get used to saying this but…I love you, Audrey. And I don't want this, between us to be over ever." he confessed. Lim crawled to him and laid her head on his shoulder but didn't say anything.

"I love you too, Neil and I want to stay like this. For good." she whispered eventually and one second later she was deeply sleeping. Melendez put his arms around her and kissed her forehead before closing his eyes and falling asleep as well.


	24. thoughts

**Hey everyone! I hope there are still some of you stuck with me. It's been pretty rough for me lately because I feel like nobody is reading anymore. I'd like to encourage you to tell me your opinions on each chapter, I love reading your reviews. Chapters are going to slow down from now because my exams are coming up, thank you for your patience. **


	25. Chapter 25

**Thank you so much for your support and I have to apologize for the spam two days ago. Now this is a real chapter. 3**

Melendez's phone started buzzing in the morning, but none of them woke up for the first time. The caller didn't give up, he called again and again until Melendez finally rolled to his side to reach for his phone without opening up his eye. He wasn't aware of being on call and he had no idea who was this early bird caller.

"Melendez..." he mumbled and yawned afterwards.

"It's Andrews here. Sorry for interrupting your peaceful sleep but I'm here in my office. Dr Han and his broken nose just left. I would like to talk about this with you in person." Melendez heard but he could barely understand what it's all about; he has been still asleep. "We should also discuss your resignation." Andrews added.

"Wait, back to the beginning. You fired Han, didn't you?" Melendez opened his eyes and raised his eyebrows. It still wasn't clear for him.

"I did. Come in to my office as soon as possible!" Melendez could tell from Andrews' voice that he wasn't in a good mood so he didn't want to boost that even more. "Yes sir." he sighed. "See you there." he said on his sleepy, rusty voice and hung up. Lim slowly turned to him and stroked his back. Melendez looked at her and shook his head. "Sorry for waking you up. It was Andrews, he wants me in."

"Now?" she whispered. "I don't want you to go yet."

"You are free today, aren't you? I'll be back soon. I'm only on call tonight, so we can spend the rest of the day together." he leaned to her and gave her a kiss on her lips.

"All right. Hurry home..." she smiled briefly.

"You should go back to sleep until you can." Melendez got up from bed, he was still fully naked but didn't care about it, he went right to the bathroom like this.

"Nah, I'm good." Lim smiled and watched him leave the bedroom. "I like the view though..." she chuckled, she could also hear Melendez laughing in the bathroom. As soon as he got ready to leave they said their goodbyes and he was on his way to the hospital. Although he kind of figured out what was going on by then, he was still a bit concerned about what Andrews might have to say about it. As he arrived to the hospital he headed directly to Andrews' office, knocked in and opened the door as he heard the call.

"Dr Melendez. Come in!" Andrews nodded.

"Good morning, sir. You wanted to see me?" Melendez raised his eyebrows as he walked in and sat down across Andrews.

"Indeed. I wanted to talk to you about two things that I believe are left to discuss after all these...events around Dr Han." as Andrews started his monolog Melendez already started to feel uncomfortable. "You know after I fired Han I thought '_Great, so I can offer back Dr Melendez's job to him, he doesn't need to quit_.' This was actually the main reason behind firing Han. But only few hours later the news came in from the ER that somebody broke Han's nose!" he took a deep breath; Melendez thought he is going to yell soon. "I discussed it with Ms Aoki. She won't let me employ a doctor who can't hold back his anger and who beats another doctor because of their jarring!" he took a short break before continuing. "Your resignation is accepted. This is your last month here, in St Bonaventure as an attending surgeon." the announcement hit Melendez in the chest. He was perfectly aware of that as he gave his resignation letter to Andrews he basically quit his job but he believed that Andrews will understand that he only did it to save Lim and Murphy from being fired and since Han is removed from his position Melendez can get his job back. Melendez just stared at Andrews as he processed the thought of being unemployed after working at this hospital since his residency.

"I only hit him once, I didn't beat him up, okay?" he objected eventually.

"And he indeed deserved it but this is not the reason why I'm mad, Dr Melendez! I fought for you and Lim with him, I fired Han so you both can keep your jobs but you couldn't behave and now I can't fight for you again! I'm against violence especially amongst my employees. I would immediately fire anyone who shows any sign of violence and you are no exception!" Andrews shook his head. His disappointment in Melendez was obvious and despite his anger towards him, he remained calm more or less.

"Sir, you have never had any complaint about me, this is the first time. I'm your best Cardiothoracic Surgeon!" Melendez tried to bring up some argument against Andrews' decision but it all seemed ineffective.

"Yes, it'll cause some damage to the hospital but nearly not as much as a headline would in the news tomorrow that says 'St Bonaventure's doctors are violent and they can't behave'." Andrews quoted. Melendez had to admit; he lost this battle. Unfortunately, he had to agree with Andrews, his act was probably more than unprofessional.

"Alright. I apologize and I understand your decision. I screwed up, you are right." Melendez shrugged his shoulder and rose from the chair. "You said this month?" he sighed as he turned to the direction of the door. "That's two more weeks then. I should enjoy my time left here..."

"I'll write a recommendation letter to wherever you apply for a job." Andrews offered. Melendez slowly turned back to him, hand on his hips and nodded.

"I appreciate it, sir." he replied and didn't hesitate any longer, he couldn't do anything else anyways so he left Andrews' office. It wasn't time for saying goodbyes to the hospital yet, he still had two weeks before he had to leave this place behind, but as he walked out of the building he already felt that this is the end of an era. He drove home still in total shock. Memories and emotions filled up his mind and heart. He had never been a sentimental type but this news almost made him cry. St Bonaventure was his whole life and he had to leave it behind. If he could only find job in another city, there was a chance that it meant leaving Lim behind too as part of his old life.

As he arrived back to Lim's condo he walked in to the house and found her sitting at the kitchen table sipping her morning coffee. She looked up at him and noticed that something was wrong.

"Oh my…Neil, what happened?" Lim stood up and walked to him. She was wearing that huge t-shirt again that Melendez gave her several years ago. He just looked at her and her t-shirt that brought up so much memories from their residency.

"I have to look for another job." he confessed. He could see Lim's worried face but she didn't say anything. He was perfectly aware of the reason and she knew that what Melendez needed was only support and love.

"We will figure this out…" she whispered as she stepped to him and closed him into a warm embrace.


	26. Chapter 26

The two weeks went by really quickly, faster than Melendez anticipated. Neither him or Lim told anyone about him being fired since they talked about this several times in private and still tried to solve the conflict with Andrews somehow. Despite all the effort, when his last workday at San José St Bonaventure Hospital came all their hopes fell apart and Melendez decided it was time to announce this to his residents and colleagues. His last ever shift started at six p.m. but before that he had a surgery meeting in the afternoon. Luckily most of his colleagues -including Lim, Browne and Park- attended the meeting that day so he wanted to take the opportunity to say goodbye.  
Lim was sitting next to him at the table in the conference room. She was aware of Melendez's plans and they both impatiently waited for Andrews to finish his long monolog about how to be successful, which wasn't really the topic of the meeting but neither Lim or Melendez listened to him so they didn't even know what he was talking about. Both their minds were full of memories from these long years working together and their hearts rived from the thought of ending this chapter of their lives.

When Andrews seemed to be wrapping the whole meeting Melendez stood up and asked for permission to talk. "Erm...Hi, I just wanted to tell you all that my last ever shift here starts in half an hour, after that I'm no longer an attending surgeon at St Bonaventure." Melendez sighed and took a little break before saying it out loud. "I'm leaving the hospital." he said. He could hear all the surprised gasps and moans and the quiet _"But why?"_-s from some surgeons. "The reason is not important." he shook his head in response. "I just wanted to say thank you for everyone with whom I worked together in my past fifteen years here." his eyes jumped from one face to another as he looked around the people who were more than his co-workers; they were his friends and some of them were like family. He finally looked down at Lim who gave him an assuring smile but his heart broke as he remembered all their years working together since their residency. All the teasing, the quips at each other, the bets...and all the cases they solved together as a great team.

He brought himself back to reality, raised his eyes back to his colleagues. "I'll miss you just as much as this hospital." he admitted. There was one more thing he wanted to say he found it better to talk to Lim about it first so he sat back to his seat and stared at the table in front of him. After seconds of hesitation but slowly everyone left the conference room except Lim who stayed by his side and grabbed his hand under the table to comfort him. Claire remained to be the last one to leave the room. Both Lim and Melendez looked up at her, she opened her mouth to say something but eventually stayed silent instead and rushed out leaving the couple alone. Lim leaned to Melendez and laid her head on his shoulder.

After minutes of sitting like this Melendez broke the silence. "I wanted to tell you something, which I can't hold back anymore despite that I'm not sure whether this is the right time and place to talk." he started. Lim raised her head and looked up at him with a worried look on her face. "I was looking for a job since Andrews fired me but it seems like there is no need for a Cardiothoracic Surgeon in any of San José's hospitals since I got rejected from all of them. Or at least...no need for me." he sighed. They both figured that this single punch can lead to such consequences so this wasn't a surprise for Lim. "But..." he wanted to continue when Lim interrupted.

"No, don't come with a but..." Lim shook her head in objection and looked deep in his eyes. "Where?" she asked quietly when she felt ready to hear the answer.

"Nashville, Tennessee." he said. As soon as Lim processed the information her eyes teared up but she wiped her tears away immediately. Melendez decided just to explain everything before they both get too sentimental. "The president of St Thomas Medical Centre called me a few days ago. We met several years ago at a charity gala, he was blown away by the Atkinson case, you know, my successful pediatric heart transplant on the two-years-old Kelly. When he heard that I'm free he was more than happy to call me with the offer."

"And you accepted it without asking me first..." Lim nodded and stood up to leave with huge disappointment.

"Audrey, wait!" he reached to her hand and pulled her back. "If you think I could do that then you don't know me well. I told him I'll think about it."

"It's about two thousand miles from here. Why are you even thinking about it?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Because it would be a fresh start. He doesn't care about what happened with Han." he shrugged his shoulder.

"Great. As far as I can see you don't really care about us so I feel like it's none of my business." she sighed. She tried to free her hand so she can leave but Melendez was still holding it. "Please, let me go, I want to go home." she said quietly and waited for his hand to release hers. Melendez just looked up at her but he let her hand go as she asked so Lim headed out. "Let me know how you decide." she added before leaving the room. What hurt Lim the most was that Melendez didn't even try to object, she seemed to be right about that for him their relationship is not a factor in this issue. She felt incredibly betrayed.

Melendez rubbed his face, mumbled some nice swear then sighed as he stood up to go to his office instead of this conference room. He had a scheduled surgery soon so he had to pick up his pieces from the floor to be able to focus in the OR. He knew that he shouldn't have told Lim about this offer. Deep down he wanted to decline the position in Nashville, he loved Lim enough to remain unemployed but at least still have her by his side. What he didn't tell her was that they offered him a Chief of Surgery title, which he desired to get since Andrews got promoted as Chief here. The choice between the two most important things in his life was the hardest he ever had to make.  
He arrived to his office and by his surprise, Claire was standing in front of his door. She looked at his direction when she heard his footsteps.

"Dr Melendez. I was wondering...does your leaving has anything to do with the fact that 'somebody' broke Dr Han's nose a few weeks ago?" she asked curiously.

"Dr Browne, I hate to say this, but it's really none of your business." Melendez shook his head.

"So it wasn't just a rumor." she sighed. "I'm really sorry, Dr Melendez, you don't deserve to be fired."

"You can stop licking my boots, I'm not your boss anymore." he muttered and rolled his eyes but Claire didn't stop.

"I'm not saying this because you are my boss and I want to be your favorite resident like you think from the beginning." she objected. "You were my mentor for two years, my supervisor and my teacher and I'm really grateful for that. I wish you could stay because I'm sure you are the best surgeon I can learn from." she stated and looked into his eyes although Melendez tried to avoid hers.

"Well, thank you, Dr Browne." he nodded and looked at her finally. "You are going to be a great surgeon no matter what." he gave her a brief smile that Claire returned but then they just stood there in awkward silence. "You should change to your scrubs, we are having a surgery pretty soon. I should go too..." Melendez said eventually.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry." Claire brought herself back to reality and turned around, walked away in a hurry to the dressing room. Melendez just watched her leave with his hands on his hips before he walked in to his office. He had a few minutes back to guide his thoughts in the direction of the upcoming surgery instead of the conversations he just had with Lim and then with Claire.


	27. Chapter 27

Melendez, Browne and Park performed a perfect bypass surgery as a first thing in their shifts. They wrapped after a three-hours-long, complication-free procedure, Park and most of the nurses already left the OR but Melendez wanted to stay a bit longer; he wasn't sure whether he'll be back anytime soon in this exact OR or not. Claire just walked out when she noticed Melendez isn't moving towards the scrubbing area so she stopped too.

"Are you all right?" she asked politely.

"Sure. But this might be my last time in this OR..." he answered as he looked around. "I'll miss this place." he sighed. "I basically grew up here, in terms of growing as a person and as a doctor. I learnt patience, empathy, discipline and respect besides surgical skills in these ORs." he looked at her. "You'll know what I'm talking about in a few years." he nodded.

"I already learnt a lot from you." Claire tilted her head.

"Yeah, but you'll have to use your skills under another attending surgeon's supervision too. That's yet a talent to gain." he smiled. "Let's go, someone else might need the OR too." he walked out to the scrubbing area, scrubbed out quickly and left the OR and Claire who was still standing in the middle of the room.

Melendez had some free time after he checked on some patients so he decided to start packing his stuff out from his office. He brought some boxes just for this purpose, he placed them on his desk and looked around in his place. He had this office for seven years now, which is a long time, he literally lived in this office sometimes so it was hard for him to let it go. He sighed and at first started packing his books from his shelves; after a few minutes, he had three full boxes of medical books only. The last box was for his personal stuff from his desk. He had never been that sentimental of a man, he didn't have any treasures, pictures or plants on his desk -he only had to pack his pen 'collection' in which most of the pens were empty but he kept them anyways-, but when he opened his drawer Lim's and his happy faces looked back at him from a printed selfie. He took the picture out and sat down to his chair while looking at it. He remembered the exact time they took this picture and he loved it, it showed their relationship perfectly with Lim's grumpy face and him laughing next to her. He probably quipped at her, teased her with something just as always but somehow he managed to capture it this time. He printed it out as a further tease and oh boy did it work...  
For next he took out a one dollar bill from the drawer; the bill that he won on their bet. He smiled a little bit in nostalgia but then remembered how they last conversation ended so he put both the picture and bill into the box and continued packing his stuff without any further disturbance. Eventually, he closed his boxes with tape and pushed them to the corner where he won't bump into them. He looked around once more before leaving his office.

Since this was his last shift he didn't get new patients and he only had to check on his ongoing cases with Browne and Park, he could even have some sleep from midnight to three a.m. His shift was about to end not so long before six a.m., he was already in his casual clothes, just went upstairs to his office to grab his boxes. For his surprise, a group of people, colleagues were in his office when he opened in. The first face that caught his eyes was Lim's.

"Dr Melendez, we came to say our proper goodbyes before you leave." Claire smiled at him. "I called in some of them just for this so if they are not in a good mood, I apologize." she chuckled.

"Well, thank you, but it wasn't necessary." Melendez shook his head. He looked around, he could see all his co-workers with whom he came along well, most of them surgeons and his residents. "But it means a lot. Thank you." he repeated and stepped closer to the crowd. Some started chatting with him about the past, some asked about the future and some just remained silent and listened to the conversations. Some had to leave as their shifts started but some stayed a bit longer. And there was Audrey Lim, standing alone in front of the window, staring outside the whole time. She was only on call so she didn't have to hurry although she didn't know the reason of her staying.

After several '_Goodbye_'-s and '_Good luck'_-s most of them left his office, only Park and Dr Gates offered their help to take the boxes to Melendez's car. He gave each of them a box and told them to go ahead, he will follow them. As they left, he turned to the only person in his office; Lim.

"Audrey. I'll be right back, can you stay a bit longer so we can discuss this?" he asked. Lim nodded hesitantly but didn't look at him. "Okay." he sighed. He grabbed a box too and headed down the hallway to the elevator and then to his car. The two doctors were there, waiting so he opened the trunk and they both put in the boxes. "Thank you. I have one more box left, so I have to go back, but I'd like to say my goodbyes here and now." he said and shook hands with both Park and Gates before rushing back to Lim.

As soon as he stepped in and closed the door, Lim asked him: "Are you moving to Nashville or not?"

"Aud...please, this is not the way I'd like to talk to you." he walked closer.

"It is because if you are leaving there is nothing we can talk about except that you should pack your stuff at my place too." she said seriously.

"I haven't accepted the offer..." he shook his head which effected a small relief for Lim. "...yet." he added.

"You son of a bitch!" Lim raised her voice.

"Let me explain please. You are furious but I'm sure we can figure this out." he reached for her hands. "I love you and I don't want to leave you but this is the offer of my life. I would be Chief of Surgery, that's my goal since my residency ended, you are aware of that. This is my opportunity." he tilted his head.

Lim tried to calm down a bit and took a deep breath before opening her mouth to speak. "I know and I support you in reaching your goal. And if it requires us to break up then I guess we will." she shrugged her shoulder.

"It wouldn't if you moved to Nashville with me." he suggested, Lim just raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You heard me. I ask you to move there with me." he smiled briefly but Lim didn't return it.

"I don't know, Neil. I lived my whole life here, in San José and I'm not sure I want to leave my job, my family and my friends." she shook her head. "If I said no, would you leave me?" she looked up at him.

"I'll accept the position, but planes and FaceTime exist. We don't have to end this..." he said.

"I'm not a fool and neither are you. With both of us being doctors with tough schedules, long distance relationship would never work out for us." Lim sighed and Melendez had to admit; she was right.

"I'm so sorry..." he whispered, he stepped closer and embraced her into a hug. "I love you."

A fast tear rolled down her cheek before she could wipe away all the others. "I love you too..." she mumbled as she buried her face into his shoulder. Melendez gently stroked her back to comfort her. He thought that this is it, they are breaking up and his heart broke from guilt because he was the reason behind it. He didn't want to make it even more painful, he let her go and turned away from her to grab the box. He glanced at her one more time before walking to the door to leave.

"Neil! Wait..." she stepped closer and closed her eyes, took a breath before saying: "I want to move to Nashville with you."


	28. Chapter 28

**M content below!**

Melendez almost dropped the box when he heard Lim's words. He put the box down and turned back to her, walked closer slowly. "Are you serious?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Well I guess I am." Lim tilted her head. "But don't ask again or I'll change my mind." she grinned and it made Melendez smile too. He stepped to her, put his arms around her and kissed her slowly. Placed one of his hands on her face and stroked her cheeks with his thumb while still not letting go of her lips.

"You know...there is one thing I haven't done in this office yet..." he grinned playfully between two kisses.

"And you won't do it today either." Lim shook her head laughing. "There is a reason why it couldn't happen yet and it's the glass walls. I don't want to provide free porn for our colleagues."

Melendez could do nothing but laugh. "Fair point. We could go home then...before they call you in." he smiled and kissed her again.

"Then let me go and grab your box." she ordered, stepped back and put on her jacket.

"Yes Ma'am!" Melendez nodded, got his box and headed out but let Lim go first at the door. He glanced back at the office one last time before leaving it all behind.

They were on their way to Melendez's condo this time, it was closer and it was expected that Lim will be called in soon. They were both quiet in the car although there were several questions to be asked but none of them said a word. They just decided to move to another city together but they figured it was too early for any further discussion about this. As soon as they arrived Lim helped with the boxes, they carried them inside.

"Thank you." he smiled at her as they got all four boxes inside. "Are you hungry?" asked while turning on the coffee machine. He had three hours of sleep, which was far from enough, he needed some boost.

"No, but a coffee would be nice for me too."

"Coffee is in the works." he leaned against the kitchen sink and looked at her with a smile. As the coffee was ready Melendez poured it out into two cups, added sugar and milk as they usually drank it and handed Lim's to her. They both sipped down their coffee and just looked at each other afterwards. "What?" he chuckled.

"Nothing..." she shook her head. Melendez put down his cup and stepped closer to her, placed his hand on Lim's waist.

"You've been waiting for this, right?" he grinned and kissed her.

"The bedroom is not as exciting as the office..." she tilted her head.

"You make it exciting wherever we are." he smiled.

"Shut up and fuck me before some idiot calls me in." she whispered and leaned to his lips.

"Understood!" he laughed, his hand slid down her back to her bums. He gave sweet kisses to her cheeks and neck, which turned Lim on completely. He grabbed her butt, pulled her close; she could already feel Melendez's erection. "Let's go upstairs." he whispered to her hears that gave her goosebumps.

In the bedroom Lim got rid of her black leather jacket quickly before she could feel Melendez's hands again. He stroked her back and pulled up Lim's blouse, took it off her. He embraced her and kissed her hard, while Lim quickly tried to unbutton his shirt but she gave up halfway through and just pulled it off over his head. She guided her hand up on her abdomen and chest but then she pretty soon found herself unfastening his belt. Melendez's moans as she freed his cock assured her; she was doing it great. They didn't hesitate to get rid of their clothes; it took them only a few moments to undress each other.

"Bed?" Melendez asked but Lim wanted to compensate the lack of excitement she caused with rejecting him in the office so she had other plans.

"No..." she smiled playfully and she didn't have to worry about him; he was in. He pushed her to the wall and kissed her lips again while he started teasing her female parts. "There is no need for that." she moaned and embraced his neck. Melendez lifted her up and Lim wreathed her legs around his hips as he was holding her against the wall. For a short while he just stroked the smooth skin on her legs while kissing her; this was his much needed guilty pleasure and his favorite part about sex. For Lim that was undeniably every time Melendez spoiled her with neck kisses.  
He looked up into her eyes before entering her then reached for her lips again as he started moving. Their moans of pleasure got louder when he gathered pace and intensity. "Neil..." she cried his name to his ears while he was kissing her neck –since he was perfectly aware of Lim's desires- to increase the level of her satisfaction. His heart was racing, drops of sweat rolled down his chest and back and all his muscles grew taut. He soon felt that he'll come, but he didn't stop as ecstasy shook his body. Lim felt his warm breath in her neck when Melendez moaned from pleasure and she was only moments away from orgasm too. She tilted back her head to release her voice but Melendez turned her face to him and kissed her to hush her as she climaxed.

"I love you..." he whispered and stroked her cheek. His movements slowly stopped, he was just looking into Lim's beautiful eyes as she was looking down at him.

"I love you too." she smiled. They both tried to catch their breath and calm down. Melendez kissed Lim again and walked to the bed with her to settle down there. He gently laid her down and crawled next to her, laid on his back. Lim rolled to him for one more kiss when her phone started ringing. "Nooo, I don't want to..." she buried her face in the pillow. "I'll kill them..." she mumbled.

"Pick it up." Melendez said and stroked her back. "At least we finished before they called. That was the goal, wasn't it?" he laughed. Lim just rolled her eyes and got up, grabbed her phone from her jacket pocket and picked up.

"What's that, Shaun?" she asked and listened. "Great." she sighed. "Okay, I'll be there in ten." she nodded and looked at Melendez. As far as he could figure out this meant that she needs a ride so he got up and put on some clothes, so did Lim after hanging up the phone. "Car crash, three vehicles and ten injured. It will be fun."

"Who covers the ER today?" Melendez asked while dressing up.

"Walker. Shaun and Morgan are also available so it makes us four."

"I know that I'm not working there anymore but call me if you need help and nobody else is free." he said and headed downstairs behind Lim.


	29. Chapter 29

**Thanks for the continuous support, keep posting reviews, I love to read what you think! Also, feel free to give ideas about their future in Nashville, I may include some if they are good!**

Melendez drove fast to make sure Lim arrives in time to the hospital. He stopped right in front of the ER's ambulance entrance so Lim just hopped out of the car and rushed inside. He wanted to be there, wanted to help them, but since he wasn't an employee there he couldn't do that. He sighed and started the engine again to drive away when Lim appeared, knocked on the window and gestured to him to come in. Melendez nodded without hesitation and parked the car in the lot before rushing inside to catch her. He could already see that it's a mess inside as he went to put on some proper clothing instead of his suit. Walker couldn't really deal with Shaun, so Lim separated them pretty quickly and they could all focus on the patients finally.

"How can I help?" Melendez asked as he arrived. A nurse informed him of a patient with glass cuts all over her body so he headed to treat her wounds. As Lim and the residents scrubbed in to an emergency surgery on one of the patients Melendez stayed in the ER to help checking on the others with smaller injuries caused by the accident. By the time Lim and her team wrapped the surgery Melendez was all done too.

"You still here?" Lim raised her eyebrows; she expected him to leave by then.

"Of course. I came to help, Walker needed a hand, so I stayed." he shrugged his shoulder. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, we fixed him. But please, tell me I can go home now...I thought I'd have a free day today to deal with my personal shit and then this." she rolled her eyes.

"Your personal shit or...ours?" he asked. "You know we should talk about..." he decreased the volume "Nashville." he finished eventually.

"I know, that too. Let me talk to Walker and hopefully we can go home." she said and walked to the other doctor. Luckily she was free to go so she changed her clothes and was ready to leave.

As soon as both of them were sitting in the car, Melendez brought up the topic. "So, Nashville. First of all, I have to call the president to accept the offer but from our last call I figured he wants me to move there ASAP, in a few weeks to be exact." he explained.

"I'm positive Andrews won't let me go in less than a month, which means you go and I stay until I can join in."

"So you still want to come with me? Are you sure about this?" he turned to her to see her face during the answer.

"Yes, I want to go with you, but I told you last time that don't question my decision again or I'll change my mind." she looked at him but this just made Melendez smile.

"I'm looking forward to explore something new with you." he admitted.

"Me too." Lim smiled eventually though she was a bit afraid of the change. "We will have to find some rental flat to live in. Oh yeah, and most of all a job for me." she sighed.

"I'll talk to this guy and ask if he has a place for the best trauma surgeon in the country." Melendez grinned but his smile quickly faded away as he saw Lim's face. "What's wrong?"

"You would be my boss, Neil. No, thank you." Lim shook her head. "I'll apply to any other hospital in Nashville and hope for the best."

"Sure you'll find a job easily. Don't underestimate your skills, Aud, Nashville's hospitals will compete against each other to have you as their surgeon." Melendez smiled. A red light stopped them so he lived with the opportunity and leaned over to Lim and kissed her.

"Love you, asshat. You can boost my ego a little bit more, I love it when you do." she grinned.

"And when will you boost mine?" he laughed.

"Your ego is enormous, Neil! No way I'll boost it even more!" Lim shook her head laughing. The light turned green so they could keep going with their drive to Lim's condo.

Later that day after lunch they settled down on the couch, Lim turned on her laptop to search for apartments and Melendez took the chance to finally call the president of St Thomas Medical Center, Dr Oliver Coleman.

_"Dr Melendez! I'm so glad you called!"_ Lim could hear the male voice from the phone moments after Melendez dialed the number.

"Yes, hi. Do you still have a position for me?" Melendez asked. Lim was looking for rentals during the call but she could overhear the whole conversation between Melendez and Coleman.

"_Of course. St Thomas is looking forward to having an amazing surgeon as Chief of Surgery as soon as possible!_" Coleman said with noticeable happiness in his voice.

"Great, thank you! I'm looking forward to it too!" Melendez grinned. As Lim looked at him, she could tell how excited he is for this job and it assured her of her decision of moving there with him. She started to accept it more and more as time went by.

_"When can you start?" _Coleman asked. Melendez glanced at Lim, she just nodded with a smile on her face.

"We are looking for apartments right now, I'm hoping to find a good one anytime soon. Let's say three weeks. Is it okay for you?" Melendez asked Coleman.

_"Sure, but you can come sooner too if you find a place."_ Coleman approved. _"Let me ask, who is 'we'?"_

"Oh yes, about that...I'm sure you've heard of Dr Audrey Lim. She is a trauma surgeon. I wanted to ask if you know any free positions at any nearby hospitals for her?" Lim looked at him again. She didn't ask him to find a job for her but she was curious about the answer. It would solve many things.

_"For Dr Lim? Are you kidding me? She is one of the best surgeons in the country. I'll call the president of Nashville General, she will have a position for Dr Lim for granted!"_

Melendez smiled at Lim who returned it this time. "Thank you, Dr Coleman. I'll talk to you later then." they both said their goodbyes and hung up. He immediately turned to Lim. "See? Told ya! I bet he will call in an hour with good news, don't worry!" he chuckled.

"Fine, you can be right sometimes too!" Lim rolled her eyes before starting to laugh. "Thank you! Now we only need a place to live in." she looked back at the real estate ads.

"You want a rental, right?" Melendez raised his eyebrow.

"Yes? Why?" Lim asked back.

"I thought maybe we could...buy something together?" he suggested. Lim looked in his eyes and tilted her head but Melendez continued before she could say anything. "I mean we need a rental first until we can find something we both like and that we can buy together to live in. If you want of course." he smiled.

"I like the idea." she nodded with a smile on her face. "But like you said, let's find an apartment first. We have to settle down in Nashville, in our new jobs to see if we want to stay there or not, you know." she explained.

"Agreed." he nodded also and looked at the monitor. "You should talk to Andrews though about resigning. The sooner the better."

"I know; I'll visit him tomorrow. Let's not talk about him now." Lim sighed and sat closer to Melendez, he embraced her as she leaned against his chest.

They were looking at rental apartments for hours, they called some owners and by the end of the day, they had a reserved apartment near to both St Thomas and Nashville General. Dr Coleman called later that afternoon, he said that Dr Sarah Okie is happy to talk to Lim about a position at Nashville General and gave her Okie's phone number to call. Lim found it better to talk to Andrews first.

.

The next day Lim's first thing to do was to visit Andrews in his office. She knocked on the door and entered as he called her in.

"Good morning, Dr Lim. What can I help you?" he smiled although he seemed pretty busy.

"Morning, sir. I would like to hand you my resignation letter." she started with the main reason of her visit. She had a well composed letter in her hands that she wrote last night.

"Excuse me?" Andrews raised his eyebrows.

"Melendez had to look for another job since you fired him, sir. He'd got a Chief's position in Nashville, he is moving there in couple of weeks and I'm going after him as soon as I can." Lim nodded and stepped closer to actually hand him the letter. She didn't plan to lengthen this conversation any longer but Andrews continued.

"Nashville? I should congratulate but to be honest I feel betrayed. I fired Han to save your jobs, then Melendez makes a huge mistake, I have to fire him and now you are leaving too." Andrews argued.

"Well, I'd rather thank your unsaid congratulations. I decided and you have to respect my decision!" Lim nodded, turned around and left Andrews speechless in his office alone. _"Jackass...And I started to like him." _she thought.


	30. Chapter 30

Lim got her schedule for the next month -her last month- via email later that day so she could agree with Dr Sarah Okie on when she can start at Nashville General.  
The rumor of her leaving the hospital behind spread really fast amongst the surgeons and later all around the hospital but Lim didn't really care about all the colleagues missing her already until Shaun showed up behind her.

"Dr Lim, are you really moving to Nashville?" he asked out of the blue. Lim turned to him, leaned against the nurses' desk.

"Yes, Shaun." she sighed. "Does it upset you?" she asked politely and tilted her head. She knew that Shaun liked her, maybe even thought about her as a friend not just his boss and he could be sensitive when it comes to someone leaving him behind.

"No." Shaun answered.

"Good." Lim nodded. "You know people sometimes need a fresh start. For us, it's Nashville." she explained.

"I know, Dr Glassman told me this when I got to a new foster family. But fresh starts make me sad because it means the end of something. That something can be good too. Like now. Working at St Bonaventure was good for both of you."

"Indeed, it was very good, I'm glad I worked here because I had the opportunity to meet you." Lim smiled at him.

"Thank you." Shaun nodded. "I'll miss you, Dr Lim. I'll miss Dr Melendez too but he is still arrogant." he stated and it made Lim laugh.

"Okay, Shaun. But I'm still your boss for a month, so let's get back to work. These patients won't cure themselves." she ordered then watched Shaun head back to the ER before following him. Probably this was the worst part of leaving the hospital. Leaving Shaun behind. Both of them worked hard to gain each other's trust and respect and everybody could see that they had some really extraordinary bond; a weird mixture of the bonds Shaun had with Claire and Dr Glassman.

When Lim wrapped her shift later that day she decided to go to Melendez's place this time, she knew he was at home trying to figure out how to move a houseful of stuff into an apartment not to mention there were her stuff too. She knocked in as she arrived to his house, Melendez opened the door quickly.

"Oh hey!" he grinned in surprise. "What are you doing here?" he asked and leaned to her for a kiss.

"I thought you might need some company. Packing can be tough." Lim said and returned the kiss.

"You are right, I'm only at the stage where I try to decide what to bring to Nashville and what to throw away." he sighed and let her in. "I wasn't aware of how much useless stuff I have." he shook his head.

"I'm thinking of only bringing what's really important. We said it's our fresh start, isn't it?" she smiled.

"You're right. I had the idea of giving away my not-needed objects anyways." he agreed. Lim and Melendez continued packing everything, they sorted the needed stuff and the rest that's going to be given to charity. They decided to move most of Melendez's bigger furniture to Nashville, they were all in really good condition so they didn't have to buy new ones but other than those and some really personal stuff, everything else landed in the 'Giveaway' pile or in the bin.

.

The next few weeks were all about preparing for moving; packing, giving their old things to charity, putting their houses up for sale, visiting friends and family to tell them the news and saying goodbyes. Melendez booked a flight for himself to Nashville and back for the following week because they both agreed on checking in at their new home and moving some boxes and furniture -both from Lim's and Melendez's houses- there already so they also hired a moving company to transport those. Unfortunately, Lim was busy working so Melendez had to deal with all this alone.  
It was a rough six-hour-long flight for him but considering that for the van that carried their stuff it was around thirty hours of journey he had some time to focus on other things first. Still, the most important was to check their rental apartment, shake hands with the owner and sign the contract papers, pay caution and take the keys. He was pleased with their new place -although it was empty yet- and was sure Lim will love it too.  
The next thing on Melendez's list was to talk to his new boss, Dr Coleman at St Thomas Medical Center. Not a surprise; Coleman was very excited to agree with Melendez finally in person too. He introduced Melendez to the board of the hospital and showed him the entire Medical Center including the ORs and his future office. Indeed, Melendez was impressed by the equipment and the features and already loved his new working environment.  
Melendez booked a hotel room for the night and the next day, as the van arrived he arranged the furniture and unboxed some packages. By the following day, the apartment wasn't that empty at all. They had Melendez's couch as that was the more comfortable out of the two, some of his bookshelves full of medical books, also his TV, microwave, fridge and washing machine. They basically had everything important except a bed but they decided not to transport theirs but to buy a new one. At the end of day three for Melendez in Nashville he called Lim on FaceTime to show her their new -temporary- home. As he walked around with the phone Lim slowly fell in love with the place and couldn't even express how excited she was to move there.  
On day four it was time for Melendez to fly back to San José but he knew he is going to be back in Nashville again pretty soon.

.

Meanwhile Lim's schedule was more than rough for the next two weeks; she was exhausted, couldn't sleep and this all was stressing her out. She was overwhelmed enough by the moving and work just added to that. She still had to find time for packing because she had to be ready with most of it so Melendez can take her boxes with him when he goes back to -and stays at- Nashville. Even on her few free days or on-call shifts she always had something to disturb her in arranging, but fortunately, as Melendez got back he was there to help her.  
Lim just wished these weeks to be over so it was a bless for her when the time came and she could take a sigh of relief. The downside was that she had to say her temporary goodbye to Melendez; he had to travel back to Nashville -with car this time- to settle down there and soon to start at his new job. He was as ready as he could be; he received all the heartwarming farewells he needed from his friends and family, although he didn't take this moving that seriously. He was sure about that they will be back for visits pretty frequently.  
They loaded the Tesla with boxes and suitcases full of both of their most important things. This way Lim only had to send to Nashville that few that were left at her place.

"Two weeks..." Melendez smiled at her while standing at the car ready for the journey. "Time will fly over us and you'll be there with me soon."

"Two and a half." Lim sighed. Her booked flight to Nashville was a week after her last shift at St Bonaventure. "But I have to deal with so much shit until then. I even have to make sure my Ducati makes it in one piece."

Melendez looked at her and started laughing. "Why am I not surprised?" he grinned.

"Shut up. You can have your Tesla, I need my motorcycle." she chuckled.

"You are not allowed to drive it for six more months, you know that, don't you?"

"I said shut up!" Lim laughed and pulled him closer for a kiss.

"I should go. It's a long trip for me." Melendez pulled away and looked in her eyes.

"I know. Go then. I'll see you in two and a half weeks. But call me tonight." Lim smiled. "And drive safe." she added.

"All right, I will." he nodded and sat in the car. "Love you." he smiled at her.

"Love you too." she replied.

This was it. Melendez shut the door and started the engine. He looked at Lim one last time, waved at her and drove away eventually. Lim stayed for a bit, watched him fade away in the distance.


	31. Chapter 31

**Hey everyone! Sorry for not being around and being slow with chapters, but my exams are over and I can finally write again! Thank you for your patience! love xx**

Meanwhile Melendez successfully started at his new job in Nashville, Lim had two weeks to get herself prepared for moving. It was hard. The worst part wasn't the packing nor the sale of their houses, but to leave the people behind. Every day she went to work with the heavy feeling in her heart that soon she won't be coming back and neither of her co-workers made it easier.

"It's great to see you back, Dr Glassman!" Lim smiled at her ex-boss in the cafeteria.

"I'm happy to be back." Glassman smiled at her. He was sitting at a table, eating his breakfast. "Please, have a seat. I'd like to talk to you about something." he sighed.

Lim nodded and sat down across him. "Go on then."

"Do you know who the new trauma surgeon is going to be?" he asked. "Oh and the new cardiothoracic surgeon starts today just for your interest."

Lim looked at him in confusion. "And what do you want to say with this? We all knew that with our resignation new people will be needed." she stated.

"Yes we did." he nodded.

"So? I don't really get the point of this conversation." Lim raised her eyebrows.

"New surgeons mean new mentors for your residents. You knew that too, didn't you?"

Lim rolled her eyes as soon as she realized where this talk was heading. "It's all about Shaun, isn't it? I think you are a bit overprotective with him. Are you going to blame me or something?" she asked.

"Yes I am."

"For what? For moving to Nashville with Neil? For living my own life and making my own decisions that include having a fresh start? You can't blame me for that!" she exclaimed against his nonsense statement.

"You are being very selfish and irresponsible, that's what I'm blaming you for." Glassman said with calm voice, but Lim started to get more and more mad.

"Excuse me?" she asked and raised her voice a bit yet tried not to yell at him; she respected Glassman a lot but he was crossing a line.

"You were...well you are still his mentor, his guide in fields of surgery alongside with Dr Melendez. He is gone but it was okay for Shaun because he still had you by his side. You should have thought about him before making this decision of yours. You are responsible for him, not just as his boss but as his friend too. You've been through a lot together, you finally gained his trust and now you are betraying him." Glassman explained.

"I'm not betraying him, but I've talked to him about this, he seemed fine!"

"He is not fine. He is counting the days until your last shift after which you are not coming back. He is almost as scared as he was when I got diagnosed with cancer and it's a big warning sign." he sighed. "I know you have your new job and everything, but think about this. He needs you." he said while looking deeply in Lim's eyes. He could see how bad she felt, her hearth broke for Shaun. "I have to go now. Have a nice day, Dr Lim." he stood up, glanced at her one more time before leaving.

Obviously Lim didn't have a 'nice day' after this conversation, her guilt grew all day every time she looked at Shaun. Later that day it was a relief for her to go home, or at least she thought it was until she arrived home. I was quiet, peaceful and nothing disturbed her, which caused many thoughts rushing through her mind about what Glassman said earlier. She couldn't help regretting everything in connection with Nashville despite that she wanted to live there with Neil without any doubts. She knew she can't stay here because her job is now in Nashville, they already moved everything there and sure Melendez was waiting for her to be there with him finally, but Lim wasn't so sure about anything at that point. Her phone's ringtone brought her back from the depressing thoughts; it was Melendez calling. She hesitated to pick it up but she answered it eventually.

"Hey." she sighed.

_"Oh wow, what's up? Are you in a bad mood?"_ he asked immediately as he could hear her voice.

"No, not really. I had an...interesting conversation with Glassman today. But it's okay, I'm fine."

_"Nah, you don't sound fine. What was it about?"_

"Shaun and that I'm betraying him with moving to Nashville. It sounds...terrible but he had his point and he is right." Lim explained.

Melendez took a little pause to think of an answer to this. _"But you didn't change your mind, did you?" _he asked. _"He is sensitive, but I'm sure he will be fine if you talk to him about this. Trust me, he can process this, he is a smart boy."_

Lim wasn't sure whether to go deeper into this topic or not so she decided not to talk about this anymore. "Sure he will." she sighed. "How was your day? Do your colleagues accept you?" she asked to change topic.

_"Well, yeah, kind of. It's all good, I'm trying not to be too bossy and scare them away." _he chuckled.

"Oof, I'm sure it's hard for you. You are really bossy sometimes." Lim laughed in response.

There was something Melendez didn't want to tell Lim about, he decided it's better if he kept it in secret although he hated being dishonest with her.

.

A week went by and Lim couldn't bring up the topic for Shaun despite that she really wanted to talk to him about this. She had other things to worry about though, all week after or before work she had meetings with estate agents to arrange the sale of their houses. She also had to pack her leftover stuff around the house and give away the useable furniture she didn't want to bring over to Nashville. She had a week left in San José and she was basically all ready to move. She had a few clothes left to pack and her Ducati to load and send up to Nashville with a van.  
On one of her last days she finally found the time and courage to make the much needed conversation happen between her and Shaun.

"Hey, Dr Murphy, can I talk to you in my office?" she walked to him and asked. Shaun seemed a bit confused but nodded and followed Lim to the mentioned location. The office was already almost empty, only Lim's laptop laid on the desk with some pens and paper. "Shaun, what do you think about the new cardiothoracic surgeon? He is nice, isn't he?" Lim asked. From his first day Lim tried to get to know Dr Juke to make sure he can take care of Shaun.

"Yes, he is nice. He is not as arrogant as Dr Melendez was, which is pleasant." he admitted, Lim just smiled at him.

"That's great. Does he understand you? Is he patient with you?"" she continued asking.

"Yes. We are lucky that he is the new attending cardiothoracic surgeon. He is a good mentor." Shaun nodded. His words comforted her a bit.

"I'm happy to hear that." she smiled. "I'm sure the new trauma surgeon is going to be great too." she tilted her head and looked at Shaun who was only staring at the distance. "Shaun?"

"Dr Walker is the new resident supervisor in the ER." he said. Lim knew it didn't mean any good since he didn't really have the ability to understand Shaun and his autism.

"Oh...but he is a great surgeon, you can learn a lot from him too." she said, tried to make things look better.

"Yes, but he hates me. He thinks I can't cope with anything alone, which is not true."

"Of course it's not true and you can prove him wrong. You are a great surgeon, Shaun." she smiled briefly. Shaun's silence scared her a little bit since she remembered what Glassman said. "You have to be yourself and he will realize that you are good. Also, don't let anyone shut you up when you have a great idea, okay? You are smarter than most of the residents and you can achieve anything. Your autism is not an obstacle." Shaun looked at Lim, which he rarely did and Lim could tell he is on the edge of emotional crisis. "I know that Walker is a tough one so you can call me whenever you need some advice. I'll answer unless I'm in the OR, okay?" she tilted her head. Shaun slowly nodded.

"Dr Lim, you are a good person. I'll miss you and Dr Melendez too, but he is..."

"...he is arrogant." Lim finished Shaun's sentence with a giggle.

"Yes." Shaun nodded. "But you are still my boss so I should go back to work." he turned around.

"Wait. Do you want anything else? You can hug me too, if you want. I know you don't like touching but a hug might comfort you now...and me as well to be honest." she couldn't even finish her sentence Shaun turned back to her, stepped closer and hugged her quickly like he used to do with Glassman.

"Thank you. I'm feeling better now." Shaun let her go and without saying anything else he headed out of Lim's office.


	32. Chapter 32

It was much easier for Lim after that conversation with Shaun. She knew that Shaun is going to be all right, she made sure of everything at St Bonaventure and she was finally ready to leave it all behind. As her last day came, she decided to throw a little 'party' at her -empty- office for some of her colleagues after their shifts. She even ordered pizza for the hungry ones. She wasn't sure who will show up and who won't but eventually the amount of people was over her expectation. At least thirty people came to say their proper goodbyes to her. They all loved her, respected her and were sure missing her already although she was still there. Shaun and all the residents showed up, Dr Glassman, Andrews and even some members of the board too. In spite of her tough personality, Lim really got emotional during the little event as she was chatting with all her co-workers and friends, but she couldn't admit it; she still acted cool. As she got home to the empty house and settled down on the bed it all hit her hard. She never cried but in that moment a few tears rolled down her cheek. The next day was the big day; the day of her flying to Nashville.

As soon as she woke up in the morning she jumped out of bed because she knew she still had a few things to arrange including the loading of her Ducati. By the time she got ready with shower and breakfast the transport van was in front of her house waiting for Lim. She quickly got outside and opened the garage where the Ducati was resting since her driving license got suspended. She made sure they are careful with her bike and that it's stable in the van; she wouldn't bare any scratch or dent on her precious vehicle. They also loaded the boxes she had left in the house and even a suitcase so she won't have to carry it with herself on the plane. At around eleven a.m. the van left for its long journey so Lim could head back inside to dress up properly, close her suitcase and say goodbye to this place. The estate agent arrived so Lim could hand her the keys for both her and Melendez's house. This meant the really end of her life in San José but it also meant the beginning of a new adventure with Neil in Nashville and she was very much looking forward to it.  
She looked around the house one last time while she was waiting for her taxi to show up. She remembered the time she bought this house; after her divorce from Kashal. This house meant a fresh start but not just in terms of life after her marriage ended but later it also meant her journey with Melendez. They spent a lot of time there together and this was the place where they really fell in love. And now she is ready for another fresh start; a life together.

Her taxi drove her to the airport where her flight took off an hour later. She couldn't change her mind now, she was officially and irreversibly heading to Nashville. She had a rough six hours ahead of her meanwhile she could get ready mentally too for not coming back to San José.

.

Over at Nashville Melendez started his shift in the morning at St Thomas. He already had a morning routine at his new place, he settled down pretty quickly and got used to things. He liked his office, it was light and peaceful, it had normal walls, which meant pretty good privacy if he needed some time alone. He liked the ORs and the examiners too, he loved working there although he certainly had less time and opportunity to deal with patients since he was Chief of Surgery and he had to arrange his employees first. He wasn't involved in average cases anymore, he mostly got the tough ones or when the patient wanted to pay for the best doctor in the hospital. Coleman, the president made sure to gain some good repute for the hospital with Melendez's presence. Melendez honestly enjoyed the hard and prestigious cases and that he was finally honored, which he wasn't in St Bonaventure. He still had one problem though that he still couldn't admit to Lim. He tried to solve it before making Lim worry.

.

*four days ago*

"Good morning, Dr Melendez." a woman greeted him as he arrived in the OR for his first scheduled surgery. "How are you today?"

"Good morning, Dr Morris. Great, thank you. I'm really excited, I've been waiting for something for weeks and now it's only few days away. It's so close and I can't wait!" he smiled at her. Dr Emma Morris was one of his cardiothoracic surgeons. Young, pretty and kind, also really genial, which made him worry a little bit. He couldn't get to know her enough yet to know if it was her personality or she was just way too nice with the 'new sexy doctor', aka himself.

"Oh, really?" she grinned. "Workwise or personal?" Morris asked curiously.

"Personal." he answered shortly. He wasn't up to chatting about his relationship with Lim. "What do we have here?" he asked looking up.

"Jack Dennis, forty years old man. He is getting a new ICD. Bit low heart rate and blood pressure." a nurse informed him as he asked.

"Great, thank you. Is everything ready?"

"Yes sir."

"Let's start then. Scalpel please."

During the surgery Melendez noticed that Morris' hand was shaking a little. "Are you nervous, Dr Morris?" he asked.

"No, why would I be?" Morris shook her head.

"Because your hand should be still while operating a heart and it's not. Do you need some rest?" he looked up at her.

"No, I'm fine, sorry." she sighed and tried to control it.

"You can leave before killing the patient with a shaky hand if you want."

"I'm fine! We can continue!" she assured so Melendez got back to the patient.

They wrapped the surgery successfully and scrubbed out afterwards.

"So what was the shaking? I've never seen you like this." Melendez looked at Morris.

"Nothing, told you already. Can we drop the topic please?" she mumbled.

"No, because I'm your boss and I'm responsible for your mistakes if you make any. Come to my office, we have to talk about this." he ordered and left the scrubbing area. He headed up to his office but grabbed a coffee on the way. Not so long after he arrived Morris showed up too as he ordered. "Great, I hoped I won't have to chase you all day around the hospital."

"Haha, you can stop being a jerk, it was enough for today." she rolled her eyes and closed the door behind herself.

"When did you become this feisty?" Melendez raised his eyebrows but Morris didn't answer. "Okay, so tell me, what's the reason behind your handshake?" he asked.

"It's really personal, I don't want to talk about it." she sighed and sat down. She looked really broken.

"At least tell me, is it permanent? You know you can't operate like this." he tilted his head and leaned against the desk.

"It's permanent...and it's going to get worse. And yes, I'm aware of that..." she nodded. Melendez tried to look into her eyes but she avoided eye contact. From Morris' facial expression and what she just said he could figure out that it's serious. He hesitated what to say but he had to break the silence.

"Is it curable?" he asked eventually. She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "What is it? Please..."

"Huntington." she admitted finally that left him in a surprise.

"Damn, you are too young for that. Are you sure?" he asked. "Is it diagnosed by neurologist or by you?"

"I'm not that crazy to diagnose myself with a lethal disease." she looked up at him, he could see her tears in her eyes. "My mum had the same. She died a few years ago." she said and stood up. "Please, don't tell this to anyone yet. I'll talk to Coleman but I want to keep my job as long as possible. This is my happy place, you know..." she stepped closer to him.

"All right, but please be careful in the OR." he nodded. "I would never fire you for being ill, I'm sure Coleman will try to find a solution too." he smiled but he could see that she is on the edge of crying. "Nah, please don't think about this. You have several years to live a great life without any other symptoms." he tried to calm her but as he was talking it made everything worse. Morris started sobbing from tears and Melendez was really lost, didn't know what to do to comfort her. He decided to offer her his hug eventually, which she accepted immediately, so he closed her in his arms softly. Minutes went by like this and Morris slowly started to calm down and get her pieces together.

"Thank you..." she raised her eyes at him and let him go.

"No problem. If you need anything you can come to me anytime." he nodded and gave her a soft smile.

"All right." she nodded and smiled back at him. Melendez started to feel a little awkward in this situation so looked at his watch to break the eye contact they had. "Yeah, I should go now." she wiped away her tears and turned around to leave. Fortunately, she understood the hint Melendez gave by this move.

.

*present*

Lim's plane landed a bit after seven p.m. but it was almost eight when she could pick her luggage and finally head out of the terminal. She was more than excited to see Melendez again after all these weeks spent apart. As she rolled her luggage out she looked around in the crowd to find him but he wasn't there. She sighed in disappointment and grabbed her phone to call him when she felt a pinch on her side. She jumped from the surprise, even almost dropped her phone and turned around quickly.

"How dare you scare me like this?!" she yelled but started laughing right away. "Hi!" she grinned and hugged him immediately.

"Oh my, I missed teasing you sooo much!" Melendez laughed and embraced her tightly.

"I hate you." Lim shook her head and pulled away but he grabbed her waist.

"I love you too." he grinned and leaned over for a welcome kiss he'd been waiting for for weeks.


	33. Chapter 33

**Dear Tigergirl1223! I don't know why you blocked me from reviewing at your ff after disappearing from Instagram last week, I hope I didn't do anything wrong, I don't understand this all. Anyways, I still love Feelings. xoxo**

**.**

"How was your flight?" Melendez asked while taking her luggage and heading to the Tesla in the parking lot.

"Fine. It wasn't that bad. I had some extra time to think." Lim sighed.

"About what?" he looked at her.

"Mostly about leaving San José and the hospital. I'll miss it but I'm good with all this situation now." she nodded.

"You'll love it here, I promise. Nashville is nice. Oh and I can't wait for you to see our place!" he grinned at her and put an arm around her waist. When arriving to the car he loaded the trunk with all her baggage, they jumped in and drove home. During the ride Lim stared out of the window, looked around the city, watched the buildings as they drove by them. "Look, this is St Thomas. I work here." Melendez pointed at a huge grey, modern building. A short time later they arrived to their block, parked in front of their house, picked up Lim's bags from the trunk and headed up to their apartment.

"Already looks good." Lim smiled before Melendez opened the door to the apartment.

"You can tell by the door?" he laughed but before entering he stopped. "Wait, I want to give you something first." he grinned and pulled out something from his pocket. "You should open it with your own keys." he handed her a keychain with a little metal motorcycle and three keys on it.

"Wow! Thank you! It's adorable." she laughed and hugged him. "Why three?" she asked confused.

"You'll see later. Now open up." he grinned so Lim did as he said, opened the door and walked inside. She walked around, looked at every little corner of the apartment then turned back to him.

"Neil, it's so awesome! I love it!" she hugged him.

"I'm glad. Have you seen the bed? I couldn't wait any longer so I bought one despite that I promised we would buy it together. Sorry about that." he sighed.

"No worries, it's that big of a problem. In fact...we should try it out how it holds during...you know." she smiled playfully, Melendez, as he understood the hint, kissed her immediately.

"Missed you." he whispered and led her to the bedroom.

.

The next day Melendez had to wake up early because of work but he tried to be quiet so he wouldn't wake Lim up but it didn't work out.

"Neil..." she mumbled into the pillow.

"Yeah?" he sat down next to her on the bed and stroked her back smoothly.

"Kiss me before work..."

Lim being so cute made Melendez laugh. He leaned to her and kissed her lips. "Love ya. I'll be home around six p.m. but you can come in to have lunch together." he suggested.

"Okay if I don't get lost in the city, I'll be there around noon. Now let me sleep. Bye." she rolled to her other side and covered herself from head to toe.

"Call me if you get lost." he laughed. "Bye."

.

As he arrived to the hospital, Morris was waiting for him in his office.

"Oh, hey. What are you doing here?" Melendez asked in surprise.

"I just wanted to...come in before I talk to Coleman. You know...I need someone now and since I told you about this and no-one else, you're the only one I can turn to." she sighed.

"Sure, I'm here." he nodded without hesitation. He was always supportive with patients, less likely with co-workers, but Morris was a broken soul that needed support during her illness and Melendez couldn't reject her. "How are you today?" he asked.

"Thank you. Good. Less shaky. The thing is, it always changes. Sometimes it's worse, sometimes better and it's really unpredictable." she explained but Melendez couldn't really reply anything. "Yeah but let's not talk about my disease." she shook her head. "I wanted to ask you if...you wanna drink a coffee or something in the cafeteria?" she asked but Melendez wasn't sure if this question was meant to be like this. He felt like she wanted to ask something else but then lost her confidence and changed her mind.

"Okay, sounds good." he nodded with a smile. They headed downstairs to the cafeteria, waited in the line in silence until Melendez broke it. "What are your plans for the weekend?" he asked although he regretted immediately. He hoped Morris won't take it as flirting or something.

"Erm, nothing basically. I'll probably lay in bed, eat junk food and watch Marvel movies all weekend." she shrugged her shoulders.

"Sounds like Lim..." Melendez chuckled and shook his head.

"Who?" Morris raised her eyebrows.

"Oh...a good friend of mine. She used to do the same during our residency." he smiled. He wasn't sure why he didn't tell Morris that Lim is his girlfriend, probably because he didn't want further questions about her.

"I swear Marvel and Harry Potter movies are the best!" she grinned.

"Oh boy you would like each other's company." he smiled to himself. As it was their turn Melendez ordered coffees to themselves, payed for both and as it got ready, he handed one to Morris. "There you go. Coleman should be in by now. You should talk to him." he said during.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me of my faith..." she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, but you know it's obligatory. You'll feel better after."

" 'Course, if he doesn't fire me for this."

"He won't, I promise. As much as I could get to know him, he is a great guy, really understanding. You'll be fine." he smiled and stroked her arm to calm her a little bit.

"Okay...thank you for everything." she returned the smile and walked away in the direction of Coleman's office. "Didn't see any scheduled surgeries for the morning so see you at lunch maybe?" she turned back and asked.

"Sure. Good luck." he waved and headed to his own office. He had tons of paperwork to do before lunch so he jumped into it right away. As he arrived there he realized he just invited Morris for lunch when Lim was coming. _"Dang..."_ he rubbed his face and sat down to his desk. Dropped a message to Lim asking whether she is coming or not but he expected her to still be asleep.

.

Lim woke up hours later. Her first thing was to check her phone so she read the text and answered with a simple _'YES!'. _Looking at the clock, it was half past ten, so she got out of bed, went to the bathroom for a quick shower then dressed up. It was too late for breakfast but she went to the kitchen to make some coffee. She found a cup already prepared for her by Melendez, she only needed to warm it up. She looked around the apartment more thoroughly while sipping her coffee. She loved every corner of it, it was a perfect little place for the two of them. She remembered Melendez's plan to buy a house together but she figured this apartment is enough for their little lovebird selves for a while. She knew that Melendez would like to have kids and deep down she wanted too someday but for now she enjoyed the time they spent together only the two of them.

She got ready with her hair and makeup, grabbed her jacket, bag and keys and headed down to the street. As she could see from the car the previous day, St Thomas wasn't far away so she decided to take a walk, it was bright and warm outside and she had plenty of time to arrive there. Her license suspension was a pain in the ass but she only had five months back until she could ride her bike again.  
She arrived to the hospital smoothly and right in time, she called Melendez to let him know that she is here, waiting at the entrance. He got to her really quickly, welcomed her with a happy kiss.

"So you didn't get lost." he joked.

"Nope, I'm a grown up woman, I could find the way..." she laughed. "I actually walked here and I'm hungry so let's eat."

"Okay, I'm hungry too. Glad you came, with all this paperwork I started to go insane." he sighed.

"Well you wanted to be chief, you got it." Lim shrugged her shoulder. On their way to the canteen she looked around. "Damn this hospital is awesome. I hope General looks good too. I mean St Bonaventure was great but this is another level." she said fascinated.

"Sure it is." Melendez grinned. "You should see the ORs. Those are beautiful. Oh and I'll show you my office and also there is something good in it that I hope will be beneficial someday." he winked.

"Let me guess...it has proper walls." Lim raised her eyebrows and started laughing as Melendez nodded. "Oh I know you so well."

"Yeah you do." he laughed also. "Okay, have a seat, I'll grab food and I'll be back." he said and stood in the line.

"You don't even know what I want." Lim objected.

"Oh I know you too just as much if not better, don't worry." he grinned.

"All right then." she smiled at looked for a table, sat down and reserved a seat across her for Melendez too. He arrived soon with two plates of crispy sesame chicken. "Dang those look good." she grinned.

"Yeah? I figured you'd like this. It's delicious too." he smiled and sat down. "Bon appetite."

They started eating when Morris came by their table. "Hey. Sorry, I see you've got company." she said. "I just wanted to tell you the news. I've been at Coleman's and he was super nice so you were right." she smiled.

"Oh hey. See? Told ya!" Melendez grinned. Lim looked up at the redhead as she talked then she looked down at Morris' hands. She could immediately notice her shaky hands as she was holding her food.

"Hey, you can eat with us. It's crowded and we have extra seats here." Lim smiled at Morris. Melendez's eyes jumped between the two woman.

"You sure? I didn't want to interrupt anything."

"Yeah, feel free to sit down. I'm Audrey, by the way." Lim smiled.

"I'm Emma. Thank you." Morris smiled at her and sat down.

"Audrey is the one I've been talking about. Lim." Melendez said. He took the chance to introduce her although he still didn't want to bring up their relationship.

"Oh Lim? Nice to meet you. Melendez told me you were a big Marvel and Harry Potter fan." Morris grinned.

"Yep, it's me." Lim chuckled. "Those are the best movies ever!"

"Right?!" Morris laughed.

"Are you a surgeon too?" Lim asked curiously.

"Yes, cardiothoracic. I started here as a resident but now I'm an attending." Morris smiled. "You? Melendez said you were resident together so I guess you're a surgeon too."

"Great. Yeah, I'm a trauma surgeon. We moved here from San José, I'll start at Nashville General tomorrow." Lim explained. There was that 'we' that made Morris think a little bit about what's exactly between them.

"You moved here too?" Morris asked. _"Oh here we go..." _Melendez thought to himself and avoided eye contact with either of them.

"Yeah with Neil. We live together here now." Lim smiled at Melendez but noticed that he conspicuously avoided her.

"You live together? So you...are a couple?" Morris asked in surprise.

"We are." Lim nodded and kept looking at Melendez so he had to raise his eyes at them, he gave them a not-so-convincing smile.


	34. Chapter 34

Lim didn't make drama in front of everyone in the canteen, changed the topic instead and started chatting about Marvel heroes with Morris. Turns out they really are good company, they both enjoyed that they finally found someone to discuss the newest movies with. After eating, they said their goodbyes to Morris and headed up to Melendez's office. He showed her around quickly but he soon had to go back to work, he had scheduled surgeries for the afternoon. Lim didn't bring up the topic despite that it hurt her a lot, she just buried it in herself. She let him do his job, headed downstairs after a goodbye kiss and walked home from the hospital. Arriving home, she sat on the couch, turned on the tv to distract her thoughts from the incident in the canteen.

As promised, Melendez came home a little after six. His surgeries and the paperwork he had to complete exhausted him enough, he only longed for a long bath preferably with Lim.

"Hey, I'm home." he called but Lim didn't answer.

"Are you ashamed of me?" Lim asked as soon as Melendez walk in the living room area.

"What?" Melendez raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Why would I be?"

"Does anybody know about me besides Coleman? Or you're just playing the sexy new guy and allure every beautiful nurse and young female doctor with your charm?" she raised her voice.

"You are crazy! What made you think this? You don't trust me or something?" he asked in confusion.

"You didn't tell her that you have a girlfriend." she pointed out but Melendez just looked at her.

"And? It's none of her business." he shook his head.

"So she can think that she has a chance with you. It's not cool, Neil!" she exclaimed.

"Are you jealous? When did you become like this?" he rolled his eyes.

"Like what? I'm not jealous, I'm just..." she decided to stop before turning into a jealous girlfriend he just mentioned, took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Sorry, it's stupid."

"What? Aud, what's wrong?" he walked closer, tilted his head.

"I'm just protecting our relationship from the new environment." she admitted.

"Me too, that's why I didn't tell anyone. It's only our business." he explained with a smile and sat down next to her, stroked her cheek with one hand.

"I want anyone to know that you're taken. My fear is that some playboy bunny steals you from me because you look good, you're smart and you have money too. I love you, you know and after my failed marriage I'm afraid to lose my man again, the man that makes me happy. I just can't take anything granted at this point and that includes our relationship too." she explained with deep sadness in her voice.

"Audrey..." he grabbed her hands. "Sure, we shouldn't take anything as granted but I think, I truly believe that we are meant to be together and our past is the evidence. We've always had some chemistry but we have been blind for years, or at least our previous partners kept our eyes closed. You were married to Kashal and I had Jessica for a long time, but as it turned out they weren't The Ones for us. I love with all my heart, I'm really happy with you and no 'playboy bunny' would be able to change that whatever even that means." he grinned but seeing Lim's doubtful face he continued. "I'm confident enough to say that I'd even marry you now and here to prove my love to you and I'm hundred percent sure everyone would be jealous of our marriage because we are awesome. We would be the coolest married couple in town!" he chuckled.

Lim looked up at him with eyes wide open. "Did you...was this..." she couldn't form a proper sentence from the shock.

"A proposal?" Melendez finished her sentence and shrugged his shoulder. "Can be."

"Damn..." she mumbled and stared in front of her. "Lucky we are not in Vegas." she joked, Melendez started laughing.

"Yeah, no, I won't really marry you here and now, don't worry." he laughed.

"You don't say..." Lim looked at him and giggled. "And you call me crazy. Asshat." she shook her head. Melendez embraced while still laughing and kissed her forehead. "So I don't have to worry about Emma?" she asked quietly.

"Hell no. I'm all yours." he smiled.

"Good." Lim grinned and leaned for a kiss.

.

The next day Lim woke up just as early as Melendez; they both had to go to work that day. It was Lim's first day and oh boy was she nervous. Usually she is really cool with everything but the thought of a new workplace, a completely new and strange environment scared her a bit. Although she would spend her first day exploring the hospital and getting everyone and everything know she didn't expect this day to be without any action, she was about to go to the ER after all and ERs are usually not quiet.

Melendez drove Lim to Nashville General, wished her good luck and kissed her to give her some comfort. "You'll be all right. You got this." he smiled and kissed her again. "Now go, You'll be late."

"Yeah. Thanks. Love ya. See you tonight." Lim smiled and jumped out of the car, headed inside. As she got through the entrance, she stopped at the nurses' table to orientate herself. Eventually she ended up asking a nurse where she can find Dr Oakie, the president's office, she introduced herself as the new trauma surgeon then thanked the help when she got some guidance. It took few minutes to get to Oakie's office but she could look around the hospital meanwhile. She was pretty pleased with the building and the equipment although it wasn't as shiny as St Thomas. As she finally saw the name tag she was looking for on a door, she knocked and opened in after the call.

"What can I help you?" Oakie smiled at her. "Wait, is it Audrey Lim?"

Lim grinned as the woman recognized her without self-introduction. "Yep, I would be her. Nice to meet you." they shook hands.

"Have a seat. Great to have you here finally. How do you like Nashville? Could you settle down?" Oakie asked kindly.

"Yeah, it's a nice city. Well, kind of. This is my second day here, so it'll take some more time, but I'm on it." Lim smiled.

"Good." Oakie nodded. "Well then, welcome here! First, I need you to sign contract papers and I'll guide you through afterwards." she said and handed her the papers. As it was all done, they headed downstairs to the ER but on the way she showed her the ORs, the lab, examining rooms, the cafeteria, locker room and the cardiology too. Lim was more than fascinated, the whole hospital looked well organized, it was in a good condition and well equipped. She was very much looking forward to working here. At the ER Oakie called the staff together and introduced Lim to them. They knew about her arrival so it wasn't a surprise to them. They all greeted her with kind words then got back to work. Oakie then guided her back to the locker room where she had her own locker prepped with her new dress clothes and scrubs in it waiting for her. She had the opportunity to change clothes before continuing her journey around the hospital.

"Looks good." Lim smiled as she stepped out in her new scrubs.

"Yeah it suits you pretty well." Oakie made the compliment. "Now lock your stuff and let's go. I want to show you your office." she smiled.

"Cool." Lim grinned, closed away her bag and clothes in her own locker, memorized the number and followed Oakie up to her very own office.

.

Melendez was fortunate enough to avoid Morris that day, she had her own surgeries apart from Melendez so it was a calm day for him without any questions about his relationship with Lim. However, he overheard some really distressing rumor in the cafeteria about Morris and he wanted the check on her by the end of the day to make sure it's not true. He finally found some time to look for her in between two of his scheduled surgeries, he eventually found her scrubbing in at an OR.

"Emma. You ok?" he asked, Morris could tell he was worried about something.

"Hey. Sure." she smiled. Melendez glanced at her hands and arms to make sure she really was okay.

"Good." he nodded and left the scrubbing area. Morris just watched him leave with a confused face but Melendez was just as confused as her. According to some gossip girl nurses they saw cuts on her wrist but now Melendez could see with his own eyes that her arms were clear and healthy fortunately, so he had nothing to worry about.

.

He had a thought on his mind throughout the whole day; something that popped into his head yesterday after their conversation and his confess to Lim. He said he would marry her and he really meant that. He was confident about the strength of their relationship and the chemistry they had. He only forgot about this idea during his surgeries but then remembered right after wrapping each procedure. With every hour passing by he got more and more excited to finally arrive home and meet Lim again and talk about this with her on a more serious note.

Melendez wrapped his shift around the same time as Lim so he drove by Nashville General to pick her up. She was already at the entrance waiting for him so she just jumped and they headed home finally.

"How was your first day?" he asked with a smile.

"Awesome! My office is awesome, my co-workers are really nice, they show so much respect towards me and it's all so great. I love it!" she was really excited about it all, Melendez could tell.

"I'm so happy!" he grinned at her.

"Yeah, me too!" she chuckled.

They arrived home quickly, traffic was calm, not too much cars on the roads. Lim couldn't stop telling stories from the day like a first grader kid after her first day she was so excited. Melendez loved to hear her happy voice, to see her eyes shining like a star and her huge smile on her face. He loved it, loved her...  
Heading up to the apartment he couldn't stop thinking. _"Can I make her day even better?" _Melendez thought to himself. _"Well, let's try..."_

"I'll have a quick shower then let's eat something. I'm getting really hungry." Lim said and her first thing was to take off her clothes in the bedroom.

"I like this sight, you could cruse around in underwear more often." Melendez laughed when seeing Lim in only a bra and panties. "I'll prep some dinner until." he said but as Lim closed herself in the bathroom he quickly rushed to his wardrobe, looked for something in the pile of his socks. Yeah, not the best hiding place for something like this...but he found what he was looking for, checked on it and placed it on the night stand at Lim's side of the bed. Then, as he promised, headed to the kitchen to prep some food.

Lim walked out of the bathroom without suspecting anything, dressed up into her comfy pajamas and grabbed her phone from the night stand where she left it before showering but she noticed a little, kinda old and rusty black box next to it. "Neil?" she called but he didn't answer, he just smiled to himself in the kitchen waiting for her reaction. Lim eventually picked up the little box, turned it around to see all sides of it but it didn't have any sign or tag on so she decided to open it. What she saw made her breathless, she had to sit down.

After minutes of silence Melendez walked in the room, found Lim sitting on the bed, staring at the ring in the little black box. He stopped in front of her and kneeled down. Lim looked at him with tears in her eyes as he grabbed her hand with the box in it and squeezed it gently.

"I already made my speech yesterday about my love towards you. I joked about marriage but today I'm here to actually ask you the question. Audrey Lim, will you marry me?" he asked with a hopeful smile on his face. Lim froze, she was in complete shock, she needed long seconds to process what's going on.

"Is this for real?" she asked, few tears rolled down her cheeks. "Where is this beautiful ring from?" she looked down at the silver ring with the three small diamonds on it. Melendez got it from his grandparents when he met Jessica but he never felt it right to give it to her. Now it's different. He felt like this was the perfect ring for Lim.

"Yeah, it's real." Melendez chuckled. "This was my abuela's promise ring that my abuelo gave her when they fell in love. I didn't even know it was a trend back then, maybe they brought it into fashion." he grinned and watched Lim's face. She was so quiet but sobbing. "Nah, don't cry. I didn't even tell anything nice to you today. You don't have a reason to cry, where is the cool Audrey I know?" he teased but Lim slapped him on the chest. "Auch..." he laughed.

"Shut up or I will say no."

"Otherwise...you are saying yes?" he asked.

"Yes." Lim nodded with a happy smile.

"Thankfully. My knee started to hurt." he joked as he could finally stand up.

"Jerk." Lim laughed and grabbed his tie, pulled him down and kissed him. "I love you." she whispered.

"I love you too." he smiled, sat down next to her. He gently grabbed her hand and the ring and slowly slid it onto Lim's finger. "Yep, it's official. You're my fiancé." he grinned, embraced her tightly and kissed her lips.


	35. Chapter 35

"Let me tell you, it wasn't planned though, all right?" Melendez raised his eyebrows. "Rushing into a marriage is not my thing."

"Good." Lim nodded. "I mean I want to be your wife but not ...now." she tilted her head. "It's been only three and a half months and rushing is not my thing either." she explained.

"Good, then we agree on this." Melendez smiled. "I'm hungry, I made toasts. Shall we eat?"

"Sure."

.

With this conversation they both made a mental note that nothing changes except Lim is wearing Melendez's abuela's beautiful ring and they are engaged. They won't plan a wedding anytime soon until they feel like marrying. It sounded like a great plan to them. This quick engagement somehow woke up deeper feelings and thoughts in them, which made them smile all evening from happiness, moreover, the next day Lim woke up smiling too, which was rare.

At work, Lim rather took the ring off before her shift started so she won't lose it in a patient. She kept it in her office in the box in which Melendez gave it to her; she made sure to keep it safe. With her ring off no-one knew her exciting secret.  
It was her first day actually working as an attending in Nashville General's ER. She was still a bit nervous because the environment was still new for her but her co-workers helped her a lot; not just with her work but mentally too with much encouragement and kind words, which made her day easier to survive. She very much enjoyed her new job but she had to settle down first and to really get confident there required a true survival mode during these days. She had her first surgeries, first cases and she even had her first death at the new place.

Around halftime of her shift a relatively young man ran in through the emergency entrance with a woman in his arms. Blood covered both of them but the girl seemed to be in bigger trouble; she was unconscious.  
"Help! Somebody help!" he yelled, he was on the edge of collapsing; he seemed to be tired of running.

Lim turned to the direction of the voice calling for help and noticed them. "What happened?" she rushed there. "Here, put her on the bed." she guided the man who laid her down. Lim couldn't really tell the type of injury because of the blood.

"We...were walking on the street when a stray dog attacked us, it attacked Becca." he explained in panic. "It bit her thigh, she...she was bleeding so much and she passed out."

"Why didn't you call an ambulance?" a nurse asked.

"It happened in the corner." he answered.

"Okay. Her femoral artery might be raptured, we have to stop the bleeding asap before she bleeds out. We will need blood transfusion. What blood type is she?" Lim asked the guy while working on the girl's leg. After cutting off her jeans and cleaning from the blood she could clearly see that that dog tore out a piece of her thigh.

"A+, is she going to be okay?" he asked with a scared look.

"We need an OR stat!" Lim ordered and turned to the guy while pressing on the proper pressing point to slow down the bleeding. "I'm not gonna lie, she is in bad shape, she lost a lot of blood but we'll do everything we can to save her. But you are injured too." she ran her eyes on him. "Please sit down, a nurse will come and take care of you."

Lim jumped up on the bed, kept pressing the leg while nurses pushed them to the OR. There a nurse took her place on pressing so she could scrub in quickly and start the surgery as soon as possible.

"Dr Lim, quickly, she is still bleeding!" a nurse called so she rushed in.

"Okay, forceps please. I'll tie the end of the artery, so please only let go on my call. I just have to find the raptured end." Lim sighed and as she got the forceps she looked for the artery then tied it. "Got it I think. You can let go." she ordered. "Is the blood here?" she looked around and saw the transfusion already going. "Good."

"Her blood pressure is still dropping, heart rate is really low."

"Yeah, she is still bleeding from smaller vessels. A piece if basically missing from her leg so I'm not surprised." Lim shook her head. She tried to clip every raptured vein as quickly as possible but she could hear the long beep she wanted to avoid. "Shit. Okay. She is not bleeding now and getting blood so we have to be able to bring her back. Let's shock her." and she did so with a defibrillator. "Again." and did again. "Come on...Again."

"This is the third time." a nurse reminded Lim.

"I know." Lim sighed. She knew she had to pronounce the death.

"Time of death is 13:43." the nurse announced.

"Damn..." Lim shook her head. She was obviously sad but he learned how to handle losing a patient. Some might call her cold hearted yet she was just trying her best to be professional. She walked out to the scrubbing area, washed her hands, scrubbed out. She quickly changed her clothes that was fully covered in blood and headed back to the ER to tell the guy the bad news. Meanwhile he got his wounds cleaned and stitched so he was already in the waiting room.

"Doctor!" he jumped up seeing Lim. "Is she all right?" he asked with tears in his eyes. Lim stopped in front of him, tilted her head.

"We tried everything but she lost too much blood." she said. "I'm so sorry..." she added. She stayed for a few more seconds, watched him starting to cry then she found it better to leave. She hated telling the bed news but it was part of the job too.

.

Melendez spent most of his day in his office again, it was end of the month and he had to write the schedules for next month. Short after lunch time Morris knocked in.

"Dr Melendez, can we talk? I don't want to disturb you if you are too busy." she said.

"Oh no, come on in." Melendez smiled at her. "How is it going?"

"Well...I've heard some rumors going on about me and I wanted to make it clear." she sighed. "You checked my arm yesterday but I didn't understand until I heard the rumor that I'm cutting myself."

"Yeah, I've heard that too." he nodded. "I hoped it's not true..."

"I have to be honest. I did cut myself but not on my wrist and not even now." she started. "It was when I was a teenager. That was the time when I found out my mum was really sick and I couldn't handle it. But I'm not cutting myself now, okay? So there is nothing to worry about." she explained.

"All right. Thank you for clearing this. Remember, you can come to me with trust if something is wrong, okay?" Melendez tilted his head, Morris nodded and smiled a bit.

"Thank you."

"Of course." Melendez smiled too. He still had some misgivings about Morris but he couldn't tell why.

.

Melendez picked up Lim again after work who was wearing her ring again. She put it on as soon as her shift ended. She wanted to wear it, she was just cautious during work. They headed home. In front of the building a familiar white van parked.

"Oh my! The Ducati is here! Yess!" Lim got really excited right away, Melendez could only laugh. "I hope she made it safe or I'll kill the coach..." she shook her head. As Melendez stopped the car, she jumped out to help unload the bike. "My love, you are beautiful." she whispered.

Melendez walked behind her, stroked her back. "Now, take your keys. I'll show you what the third key is for." he smiled. "Bring the bike too." he added.

"Where are we going? I can't ride it, you know that." Lim said but took the bike, pushed it where Melendez headed. She soon could see what Melendez might surprise her with. "A garage for my bike?" she asked with a huge smile on her face.

"Yep, exactly." he grinned.

"I thought you'd only rent one for your Tesla. You rented one for my bike?" she asked again. It meant the world for her, she knew Melendez wasn't really a fan of her bike but with this move she felt like he really cared about her and this was the best way to show it. Caring about her bike is caring about Lim herself. "Oh I love you!" she chuckled.

"You wasn't this excited when I proposed." Melendez laughed.

"Yeah, sorry." Lim laughed too. "But this is awesome, thank you." she smiled.

"You're welcome. Rolled it over there, the second one is your garage. First is mine by the way, so we are neighbors." he grinned.

"Cool, I guess." Lim laughed. She opened up the garage and rolled the bike in, settled it down and just watched it in her new place. "Perfect." she nodded with a satisfied smile.

"Okay, if your desires are filled you could help bring you boxes up to the apartment." Melendez headed back to the van. Lim glanced at the bike one more time then closed the garage and followed Melendez.

.

Later that night they both were just cuddling in bed in coziness when Melendez's phone started ringing.

"No way. This is my duty phone." he sighed and grabbed it from the nightstand.

"Pick it up, it must be important." Lim said and rolled to her back.

"Melendez." he sighed. He heard a familiar female voice on the other end of the phone.

_"Dr Melendez, I didn't know who to call. I need some help." _he recognized the voice by then.

"Morris? What happened?" he sat up. Lim looked at him as she heard the name.

_"I...lied to you. Please, help me. I cut myself. I'm scared." _even Lim could hear it through the phone. She could hear the panic in her voice. Melendez looked down at her, Lim nodded and gestured _'GO!'_.

"What's your address? I'm on my way. Stay in line, okay?" he talked to her while dressing up, heading down to the car and even during the ride.


	36. Chapter 36

Melendez drove fast, he kept Morris on the phone, he tried to calm her meanwhile he arrived to her house. He jumped out of the car, rushed to the door, which he found open.

"Emma?" he called as he walked in.

"I'm in the bathroom." he heard her weak voice from upstairs so he ran up. He found her on the floor, covered with blood. Her thighs were both cut multiple times.

"It's okay, I'm here, don't worry now." he kneeled down next to her. Luckily he brought an emergency box from his car; he thought he might need it. Morris looked up at him, sobbing.

"I'm sorry. I lied. I tried to make it the truth but I couldn't. I was so lonely at home." she tried to explain. He noticed it on the phone too that her voice seemed drunk and the two empty bottles assured him about it.

"Shh. It's okay, you'll be fine. I'll clean your wounds and make a nice bandage, okay?" he stroked her shoulder then grabbed a towel, wetted it and started washing off the blood. "I'll spray it with fertilizer, it might burn." he warned her before doing so.

"I'm so sorry. I feel so bad every time I come home, alone. Here everything is worse than at work. I live for my job and I feel good in the hospital, in the OR. At home it's awful. I can't control my hand shake and my thoughts. I get depressed and then I drink and drink until I can't control my actions with a common sense." she said sobbing. "I'm undeniably sick and I hate it. I want it to end."

"Don't say this. You have an awesome life, you are an awesome surgeon and it's worth living no matter what. When you feel alone you can call me, I can come over. I promise I won't leave you alone, just tell me when you need me." Melendez tried to assure her that she is not alone. He really wanted to help her through this disease. He finished the bandage, tied it. "Come on, I'll help you stand up." and he did so. Morris grabbed his hand, he pulled her up from the floor. "Here, clean yourself, I'll find you some fresh clothes, okay? I'll be right back." he said and as she started washing her hands and legs with water to get rid of the blood, he headed to the bedroom and looked for something for her to sleep in. Emma then followed Melendez to the bedroom.

"I don't feel so good..." she said quietly.

"You drunk two bottles of wine so I'll get you a bucket. Can you change your clothes?" he asked and handed her a shirt and short cozy pants. Emma shook her head. "Okay, then I get the bucket and help you. Until then, keep in your dinner, okay?" he sighed and quickly looked for a bucket. He arrived back just in time; as he handed her the bucket she puked in it.

"Sorry, I tried."

"It's okay. Let's change clothes then. Sit here." he guided her to the side of the bed, she sat down. Without hesitation he helped taking off her clothes and putting on fresh ones. She was sure he will miss this part of the story when Lim asks because she sure would be upset. "Great. Lay down, slowly. I'll place your bucket here, next to you if you need it during the night. Get some sleep now."

"Don't leave me please!" she looked up at him with tears in her eyes again. "I'm scared alone. You said you won't leave me alone..." she cried again.

"All right, I'll stay. Don't worry, I'll be here when you wake up." he nodded. As Emma heard these comforting words and she laid her head to the pillow she fell asleep. Melendez watched her sleep and shook his head. He rubbed his face and headed out to the bathroom to clean up the blood, he also texted Lim, _'I have to stay for the night. She passed out. Sorry. Love ya.'_, but she was already asleep by then.

.

Melendez slept on the couch downstairs. Fortunately, he was on call the next day so some restless sleep wasn't that bad. Morris slept for long hours but Melendez woke up early in the morning around the time Lim had to get up for work. He tried to call her but she hung up every time, so he texted instead, _'Are you mad? Pick up the phone, I'll explain.',_ then tried again. This time Lim finally picked up.

_"Explain then."_ she commanded.

"All right. Look, she is sick. She has Huntington disease and she is broken. She knocked herself out with alcohol and cut her thighs. She told me about the disease and she needed help. She didn't want to be alone. Please, I'm sorry. I hope you'd do the same in my place." he said quietly. Lim took a pause before saying anything.

_"I'm sorry. You are right, I would."_ she sighed. _"Is she okay though?"_

"She'll be. I promised her that she can count on me whenever she needs company. Do you understand?" he asked.

_"Yes, of course. Until she uses her disease for her advantage."_

"It won't happen, believe me." he assured her. "I'll wait until she is awake then I'll go home. I'm on call today but I can pick you up after work if it's okay."

_"Yeah, sure, thanks. See you tonight_ _then." _

"See ya. I love you, you know that, right?"

_"Yeah, me too. Bye." _she said and hung up.

Melendez waited for Emma to wake up, which took place three hours later. He heard some moaning from upstairs so he decided to check on her.

"Good morning. Are you good?" he asked. Emma seemed definitely surprised that he is there.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quietly.

"Last night. You don't remember, don't you?" he sighed.

"What happened? I got drunk, but...did we?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Hell no!" her objected. "You cut yourself and called me to help you. I bandaged your thighs and put you to sleep. Nothing else." he explained.

"Okay, oh, good." she released a sigh of relief. "Well, thank you then."

"Of course. I'd go home now but call me if you need anything. Really, if you feel alone, call me before you cut yourself again, okay?"

"Okay." she nodded.

"All right then. Get well soon." he smiled briefly, glanced at her one more time then left. He felt an urgent desire for some good sleep.

.

Lim left her ring at home this time to make sure she won't lose it, she didn't even take it to work. It had nothing to do with all this situation with Emma but Melendez didn't know that. As he got home he found the box and the ring in it on the nightstand and it scared him. _"She changed her mind because of Emma? I know she was afraid I'll leave him for Emma but I told her it's not true. She is sick, she needs my help. Damn, Aud...please don't do this." _he thought to himself. This idea affected him so much he couldn't even sleep despite that he was really tired.  
He watched tv nearly all day, cooked some meal for lunch and dinner too and unpacked Lim's boxes that arrived the previous day. He couldn't wait for the time to came when he can pick Lim up finally. Since he didn't have anything to do he jumped in the car earlier. He planned to surprise her in her office so as he arrived to General, he found his way up to her own place, let himself in and waited for the clock to tick.

Lim wrapped her shift a little after six p.m. then headed to her office. As she opened the door and saw Melendez she smiled from surprise.

"Heey, what are you doing here this early?" she grinned and stepped closer for a kiss.

"Hey. Thought I'd surprise you." he smiled but as he remembered the idea of the ring she left at home he looked at Lim with a serious face.

"Okay, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Listen, I don't want you to feel like Emma will take you place, okay, because she won't. Also, she is dying, which is awful and I just want to help her through it! I hope it won't affect our relationship, or will it?" he sighed.

"No, of course not. Told you, I'd probably do the same and it's so nice of you. I can't imagine how hard it is for her." she shook her head.

"Really? Then...you don't call off our engagement?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Why would I? Why do you think that?" she looked at him surprised.

"You left the ring at home." he pointed out the detail that scared him.

"Oh. No, I'm just afraid I'd lose it at work. No, don't worry, I'm still your fiancé." she grinned. "Sorry if I scared you, I didn't mean to. I'd like to marry you, okay?" she put her arms around his neck and leaned for a kiss. "I love you." she whispered. Melendez smiled from relief and happily returned the kiss.

"I love you too." he sighed to her lips.


	37. Chapter 37

**Hey everyone! A note just for you to know that I'm going to end this story soon, there is probably maximum 5 chapters back or at least I don't plan more than that. Thank you so much for sticking with me for so long and waiting patiently for the new chapters. I lost my inspiration for now but I want to end this the proper way so I'm sorry but I need some more time.**

**Love xoxo**


End file.
